WÜRZBURG, Germany and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DAHW German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association and BelleTorus Corporation (“Belle.ai”) have joined forces with Senegal’s Ministry of Health and Social Action to detect and combat leprosy and other neglected tropical diseases of the skin (skin NTDs) in remote areas of Senegal.
The project will deploy Belle.ai’s smartphone-based artificial intelligence software to help frontline healthcare workers identify people with leprosy and skin NTDs, enabling treatment and helping break the chain of transmission. DAHW and Belle.ai will also provide the Ministry of Health with a geographic information system (GIS) for tracking infections and coordinating treatment response.
Although leprosy can be treated through a combination of antibiotics, the ancient scourge persists in parts of the world where people have limited or no access to modern medical care. The World Health Organization’s Global Leprosy Strategy 2021–2030 aims to interrupt transmission and achieve zero locally-transmitted cases, working toward “a world with zero leprosy infection and disease, zero disability, and zero leprosy-related stigma and discrimination.”
Among the major challenges to ending leprosy, the WHO’s strategy cites delays in detection and the lack of routine surveillance systems for tracking sparse or hidden cases.
Senegal has made strong progress in combating leprosy, with newly reported cases falling to 161 in 2022 from 332 cases in 2016, according to the WHO. Aiming to integrate people with leprosy into society, Senegal in June 2023 officially abolished the “social rehabilitation villages” created in 1976 to isolate people with leprosy. But leprosy remains endemic in remote areas of the nation, where no dermatologists are readily available to identify the disease. The nation of 17.8 million people has fewer than 100 dermatologists. This inequitable access to specialty care can be addressed with digital health innovation.
“Our goal is to identify and treat skin NTDs and accelerate the path toward zero leprosy in Senegal by 2030,” said Dr. Hyacinthe Zoubi, National Coordinator of the National Leprosy Eradication Program at Senegal’s Ministry of Health and Social Action. “By bringing artificial intelligence to remote areas of Senegal, we will make an immediate impact by rapidly locating people with leprosy and beginning their treatment, while continuing to integrate them back into society.”
Despite widespread and age-old fears, leprosy does not spread easily from one person to another. It can be cured with a course of multiple antibiotics lasting from six months to two years, but if treatment is delayed, leprosy often causes irreversible disfigurement.
“In the poorest communities across the globe, neglected tropical diseases like leprosy cause disability, stigmatization, physical suffering and mental health problems,” said Dr. Christa Kasang, research coordinator at Germany’s DAHW, which has been fighting leprosy and other neglected tropical diseases since 1957. "As these diseases are often diagnosed and treated too late, transmission continues to affect current and future generations. Artificial intelligence can help healthcare staff with less expertise to detect diseases such as leprosy in regions where no specialist personnel venture."
DAHW is partnering with the skin AI company Belle.ai to solve this problem. Belle.ai helps people lacking access to medical specialists to receive care from frontline primary care providers. From a smartphone photo, Belle.ai’s software assists healthcare professionals in independently evaluating their patients by using geometric analyses to compare smartphone images of the skin against a repository of images for more than 1,600 skin conditions. It is used as a reference tool by providers including community health centers, emergency departments and community hospitals.
Belle.ai is implementing a version of its BellePro smartphone app for Senegal, which health workers in remote areas can use to photograph skin lesions for analysis. If the AI software finds that an image closely resembles a leprosy lesion, that image will be examined by a trained dermatologist, and a sample may be collected for further analysis, enabling rapid treatment for people determined to have the disease. In addition to leprosy, the app will recognize other skin NTDs and more common conditions including viral and bacterial disorders.
“Our global Belle.ai team members are excited to partner with DAHW and Senegal’s Ministry of Health and Social Action by applying advanced technology in the fight to eliminate leprosy,” said Dr. Nicolas Homehr, a member of the national board of France’s National Federation of Territorial Health Professional Communities (FCPTS), and medical advisor at Belle.ai. “In Senegal and around the world, Belle.ai is working to address the unmet demands for global skin healthcare, using artificial intelligence and telemedicine to help bring care to people whose access to medical specialists is limited or non-existent.”
Researchers have identified early detection, contact tracing and early treatment as important factors in reducing the contagiousness of leprosy in Senegal.
“The shame, fear and lack of knowledge associated with leprosy in Senegal are the sources of stigma and self-stigma that hinder spontaneous consultation, early detection and treatment of the disease,” said Mahamath Cissé, Directeur of Projects and Programs at DAHW Sénégal. “The use of artificial intelligence in Senegal expands opportunities for access to screening and care in remote areas, especially rural areas, and reduces the concealment of the disease and its transmission within communities.”
About DAHW German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association
DAHW German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association has been supporting people affected by poverty-related and neglected diseases for 67 years now. Originally founded as a leprosy relief organization in Würzburg, Germany, today DAHW is an expert in the fight against tuberculosis, leprosy and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and their consequences such as exclusion, stigmatization and discrimination. DAHW is also active in the areas of inclusion, research and humanitarian aid - always with a focus on its mandate groups. "We go where the roads end": DAHW has remained true to this guiding principle from its founding days in order to make its vision a reality one day: A world in which no human being is affected by leprosy, tuberculosis and other neglected diseases and their consequences. For more information, see https://dahw.de.
About Belle.ai
In a world where most people have limited access to dermatology, BelleTorus Corporation (“Belle.ai”) helps healthcare professionals address the unmet demands for global skin healthcare. From a smartphone photo, Belle 1K Skin AI™ uses geometric analyses to find comparable possibilities for more than 1,600 skin conditions, which assists healthcare professionals in evaluating their patients and independently assessing their skin. Belle.ai’s technology also proposes objective scoring for standard assessments of immune-mediated skin disorders (psoriasis, eczema, alopecia areata, vitiligo) for patients already diagnosed with these conditions to help healthcare professionals track progression over time. For more information, see https://belle.ai.
Belle.ai’s software offerings are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or mitigate any disease or condition, and are intended only to assist healthcare professionals in attending to their patients using their independent medical judgment.
