Telemedicine Platforms in Diabetic Retinopathy Diagnosis and Treatment within Rural Ethiopian Villages: An Intervention Study 2002

Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness in Ethiopia's rural areas where access to specialized eye care services is limited. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 100 participants in rural Ethiopian villages. Participants were randomly assigned to either a control group (standard care) or an intervention group (telemedicine platform). Telemedicine significantly reduced the time required for diagnosis and treatment, averaging 25% less travel time compared to standard care. The telemedicine platform demonstrated improved diagnostic accuracy and patient satisfaction in rural settings. Implement broad-scale telemedicine training programmes and ongoing maintenance of infrastructure to ensure sustainable service delivery. Treatment effect was estimated with logit(pᵢ)=β₀+β^ Xᵢ, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.