Vision AI: Samsung brings smart solution for affordable eye care

This is truly innovation at the grassrooots. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), at least 2.2 billion people have a form of vision impairment and almost half of these cases were preventable or are yet to be addressed. Affordability and availability of eye care services is a big challenge here —it is estimated to be four times more common in low- and middle-income regions as compared to high-income regions.

Samsung has devised a meaningful solution to address this. It is repurposing older smartphones to enable greater access to ophthalmic health care in underserved communities around the world. It has partnered with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and Yonsei University Health System (YUHS) in Korea to create medical devices that screen for eye disease by upcycling Galaxy smartphones that are no longer of use. This Galaxy Upcycling programme is helping to address approximately 1 billion global cases of vision impairment that are preventable with proper diagnosis.