BiliBuddy is a low-cost, user-friendly mobile application designed to help with the early detection of neonatal jaundice by accurately estimating bilirubin levels using smartphone images.
Jaundice, seen as a yellowing of the skin and mucous membranes, is common in newborns and caused by a buildup of bilirubin in the blood. While mild jaundice is normal, dangerously high bilirubin levels can lead to severe, lifelong complications such as hearing loss, speech difficulties, visual impairment, or, in extreme cases, death.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, neonatal jaundice is the 8th leading cause of newborn mortality. Many of these deaths are preventable, but early detection remains a challenge. High-quality devices like transcutaneous bilirubinometers are expensive and often inaccessible, especially in rural and low-resource health facilities. As a result, many healthcare workers must rely on subjective visual assessment, which is often unreliable.
BiliBuddy addresses this gap by using cutting-edge artificial intelligence to estimate bilirubin levels from images of a newborn’s forehead, chest, or the soles of their feet. This approach improves significantly on traditional visual inspection and offers accuracy comparable to advanced medical devices at a fraction of the cost.
With BiliBuddy, healthcare workers can access fast, accurate, and affordable bilirubin estimation suitable for all skin tones, helping to save newborn lives across the continent and beyond.
Scientific Director
lead, child health & Innovation
researcher, mphil
Mackleode Ben-Buolo
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