HemoGlobe: Revitalizing Maternal Anemia Prevention and Treatment Globally

The proposed tool, HemoGlobe, is a small, very low-cost device that transforms rural health workers' cellphones into noninvasive, prick-free hemoglobinometers. Hemoglobin levels are pictorially displayed on the cellphone screen for easy, actionable interpretation. Concurrently, the information is transmitted to a central server via automatic SMS, which contributes data to a real-time geographical map of anemia prevalence and severity that can be used for higher-level public health policy decisions. This tool will enable (1) community-based, noninvasive screening of maternal anemia to detect those at highest risk and to encourage severely anemic patients to seek therapy beyond oral iron supplementation; (2) better targeting of public health resources such as prevention campaigns, blood transfusion facilities, and parenteral iron programs to areas with a high prevalence of severe maternal anemia; and (3) health system accountability, especially for helping individuals who are least likely to be reached.