Visilant

Visilant

Visilant

Accessible AI-powered eye screening to eliminate avoidable blindness globally.

Baltimore, MD, USA

USA

Nonprofit

Globally, 1 billion people live with preventable or treatable vision loss. 90% reside in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and India bears the largest burden with 330 million affected. Vision loss is devasting for individuals and communities. It reduces quality of life and economic productivity and increases morbidity/mortality, perpetuating cycles of poverty. Older adults, women, and rural populations are disproportionately impacted due to high costs of travel, distance from services, lack of trained eye care professionals, and limited awareness of available treatments. Although government reimbursement can often cover treatment costs, fewer than 20% of those in need can access care. Traditional outreach, such as eye camps, are irregular, concentrated in population centers, and rely on eye specialists, thus failing to reach remote patients. Vision centers staffed by technicians increase geographic access but lack the tools and training to scale effectively or manage complex cases. Current systems fail to meet the needs of patients who are geographically isolated, physically or socially constrained, and lack eye care awareness. To ensure equitable access to care, we must locate, educate, and provide screening/follow-up for those who cannot navigate traditional care pathways.

Visilant enables eye screening, diagnosis, and follow-up across three key care settings in India’s health system: door-to-door screening, vision centers (community eye clinics), and health and wellness centers (HWCs). Our smartphone-based screening platform equips community health workers, technicians, and mid-level providers with tools to identify and manage eye disease in the settings where care is most needed. Our platform provides an end-to-end, tech-enabled screening pathway: 1. Health workers use our low-cost smartphone-based imaging system to capture clinical-grade eye images. Due to our device's novel design, health workers can learn imaging in under 30 minutes, unlike traditional $6,000 tools that are used only by ophthalmologists. 2. Our AI analyzes the images and provides a probable point-of-care diagnosis (e.g., cataract, infection, normal). AI algorithms run offline on the smartphone. 3. An ophthalmologist reviews the image remotely and confirms the diagnosis through our web portal, which integrates into existing electronic health records. 4. Patients receive SMS or audio messages with their diagnosis, education about their disease, and referral instructions in their local language. 5. Hospitals use a live data dashboard to track patients, follow-up rates, and screening performance across geographies. This end-to-end platform enables timely, accurate, and scalable eye care in underserved settings.

Visilant directly serves (1) patients in rural and underserved communities, (2) community health workers (CHWs), and (3) eye care systems. For patients, we eliminate barriers like cost, travel, and awareness by bringing eye care directly to their homes and villages. Our solution enables earlier detection and referral of vision-threatening diseases, particularly benefiting marginalized groups such as women, older adults, and low-income rural residents. With restored vision, patients regain the ability to work, care for family, and participate in community life, improving both quality of life and economic potential. For health workers, especially women, we provide skilled employment opportunities in their own communities. They are empowered to deliver high-quality eye screenings using our mobile telemedicine platform. This enhances their confidence, impact, and social mobility while addressing a major health gap. For eye hospitals, Visilant reduces the cost of outreach from $5–8 per screening to under $2, while increasing patient volume for reimbursable services like cataract surgery. Our system allows ophthalmologists to focus on complex care while CHWs manage screening and follow-up. This task-shifting model supports financial sustainability and expands high-quality eye care to the 80% of patients currently unreached by conventional systems.