Orbis International has announced an important in-kind and financial donation from NIDEK to support Orbis's artificial intelligence (AI)-based screening services in Vietnam.

The donation of six specialised fundus cameras, which take images of the retina (back of the eye), will support the scale up of Orbis' AI-based diabetic retinopathy screening programme in Vietnam. These cameras are expected to support the screening of 72,000 patients with diabetes over the next three years.

The addition of the NIDEK cameras to Orbis's programme will expand its presence to six high-volume screening health facilities in three provinces across Vietnam – including Giao Thuy District Health Center and Nam Dinh General Hospital in Nam Dinh province, Nghe An Endocrinology Hospital and Tay Bac Regional Hospital in Nghe An province and Can Tho General Hospital and Can Tho Heart Hospital in Can Tho city – improving capacity to detect and promptly treat diabetic retinopathy, a potentially blinding disease that every person with diabetes is at risk of developing.

Images from NIDEK's superior desktop fundus cameras will be uploaded to and graded by Cybersight AI, Orbis's state-of-the-art technology, determining within seconds if diabetic retinopathy is detected. This allows patients the opportunity to be referred immediately for treatment, without first waiting days or even weeks for screening results that rely on human grading of the images.

Vietnam has approximately 7 million people with diabetes, and diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of blindness and vision loss in the country.