Iron Deficiency Day: sHEMO - A Phone App that Detects Anemia

November 26 is Iron Deficiency Day. Iron is essential for keeping our brain andbody healthy. It carries oxygen to our blood cells, helps convert food intoenergy, and allows us to maintain a sound immune system. However, too little or too much iron affects the body andcan cause arrhythmias and blood pressure abnormalities. In addition, patientswith chronic heart failure are more prone to iron deficiency. Anemia occurs dueto low iron and blood hemoglobin levels, and for its mass screening, bothinvasive and smart anemia-care techniques are used.

Despite good health services, there are still villages where peoplesuffer from blood-related diseases, especially women and adolescent girls. Asper the report, it has been found that nearly 43 per cent of women andadolescent girls residing in central India are suffering from this problem dueto which they face problems during pregnancy, and almost 10 per cent of womensuffer from sickle cell-based Anemia. This is also a big reason for centralIndia's women's mortality rate. To fight the problem, the Central Government of India handed over theresponsibility of a project to IIITNR, led by two professors, Dr Debanjan Dasand Dr Venkanna U. They recently developed a mobile app that detects Ameniapatients only after the eye retina. The app is called "sHEMO- SmartphoneSpectroscopy for Blood Haemoglobin Level monitoring in smart Anemia care."

Considering the problem, IIITNR faculty members came up with an innovativeproject, 'Tribe Connect.' The project covers all three critical sectors:health, agriculture, and public services. Pursuing their goals, ProfessorsDr Venkanna U and Debanjan Das started working in the health sector. Theprofessors knew they needed something cheap and easy to use so that the people,even those residing in remote areas, could use it without proper doctors andlabs. So, to pursue the motto, the professors came up with an idea. Theprofessors have even applied for the Indian Copyright act.

Traditionally, the doctor had to test a patient for Anemia through ablood test, but in this case, there is no need for a test; instead, the appscreens the eye conjunctiva of the patient and the nail bait to detect whetherthe patient is anaemic or not. Then, the screened image will proceed throughMachine Learning, and the data will be compared with the earlier data embeddedin the app, taken from AIIMS Raipur, and based on this, the app will out with aresult. It is an app-based screening program which can even run on a mediocresmartphone; the user has to download it on their phone.

HemOctor is an android app which is copyrighted under Indian Patent office.

It is also in the process of technology transfer for which the cost has not beenfixed yet. One of the professors, Dr Debanjan Das, said that they have even compared thetest reports from the tests reports from labs of AIIMS Raipur and found thatthe app is 97 per cent accurate in the result. "It took us almost twoyears to work on the app and made it worth working," added Dr Das.