Team:
Shifa Nazir,Maleeka Zahra
Role:
UX/UI | Product Designer
Date:
2018
Project Overview
This product design and mobile app were based on the Pakistan National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey and Research conducted by Mohammad Z. Jadoon and Brendan Dineen. To determine the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment in Pakistan adults aged 30 years and older and to assess socio-demographic risk factors.
Research Result
A nationally representative sample of 16,507 adults (95.5% of those enumerated) was examined. The age- and gender-standardized prevalence of blindness was 2.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.4%–2.9%). It has been estimated that there are 1,140,000 (962,000–1,330,000) blind adults in Pakistan (2003 statistics). Blindness prevalence varied throughout the country, being highest in the provinces of Punjab and Baluchistan and lowest in the North West Frontier Province. Rural areas had a higher prevalence of blindness than urban areas (3.8% vs. 2.5%, P < 0.001). Increasing age and being female was significantly associated with presenting visual acuity of <6/60 (ods ratio [OR], 2.5; 95% CI, 2.3–2.7 and 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1–1.5, respectively). Educational status was also associated with presenting visual acuity of <6/60. Subjects who had attended primary school were 60% (P < 0.001) less likely to have acuity of <6/60 than were subjects who had never been to school.
Conclusions
This comprehensive research provides reliable estimates of the prevalence of visual impairment and blindness in Pakistan. A significant excess of visual impairment was found among the elderly and the uneducated. After adjustment for age differences, women were found to have a significant excess of severe visual impairment and blindness. Regional variations in the prevalence of blindness were also identified.
This led to the development of an onsight product and app, a portable device. Intuitive and easy to use, converting IOS or Android smartphone into a retinal camera in under 30 to 60 seconds. It works in any environment, from clinical settings to remote rural areas. Allows professionals to examine the optic nerve for eyesight. Enables immediate sharing of images captured from the back of the eye with other professionals, transfer to EPRs, ordering prescription glasses or showing the patient what the problem might be through the mobile application.
Design Process
Significant principles for accessible design approaches were used to help anticipate, include, and respond to the needs of individuals in rural areas. These design, development, collaboration and co-creation considerations encouraged inclusive and equitable outcomes. Honouring the shifting needs of any person can mean giving them more freedom to choose things for themselves.
Because a person’s experience throughout their day, year, or life can continue to change, it helps to support varying preferences and choices that allow individuals to address how their changing conditions, individual knowledge, and varying needs are met. During the ideation process, low-fidelity sketches of the device were produced. Once the product design was finalized, we moved toward the app’s information architecture, followed by high-fidelity prototyping.
With an urban population comprising
38.8%, the percentage of Pakistanis who are rural dwellers
is 61.2%. The country has faced challenges with vision
impairment and blindness as key elements of the overall
health status of its people.
S.Maleeka Zahra 