WEHI’s 15-minute iron-deficiency test heads to field validation

A finger prick, a short wait, and a result at the clinic: the WEHI test is designed to measure iron deficiency in 15 minutes, without specialized laboratory equipment. It is being prepared for deployment in Malawi and Kenya, where researchers will test how it performs outside the laboratory and work toward a route to regulatory approval.

The test measures ferritin, the gold-standard biomarker for iron deficiency. That fills a gap left by hemoglobin screening, which can detect anemia but cannot confirm iron deficiency; a woman may have depleted iron stores while her hemoglobin level still appears normal. WEHI’s test uses a visual reference at the clinically important threshold of 30 ng/mL and, according to the researchers, closely matches standard laboratory ferritin measurements.

Dr. Emily Eriksson co-led the team that developed the test, alongside Professor David Anderson and Huy Van. Dr. Ricardo Ataide will lead field validation and implementation. Their aim is a test that a broad range of health care professionals can administer, avoiding the dedicated training and laboratory access that can be difficult to provide in remote or under-resourced communities.

The practical stakes are clearest in maternal care. The source describes iron deficiency as the most common cause of maternal anemia, affecting millions of pregnant women, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. A 2025 trial led by WEHI and the Training Research Unit of Excellence in Malawi found that a single iron infusion in the third trimester can significantly reduce iron-deficient anemia. The new test could help determine who is most likely to benefit, directing limited infusions where they are expected to have the greatest impact.

And so what, concretely? A health worker could potentially diagnose iron deficiency during one visit and use the result to inform a treatment decision, including in a setting without a laboratory or a follow-up venous blood test. That could bring timely diagnosis to women currently missed by anemia-only screening. The next step is not a promise of worldwide rollout: the Malawi and Kenya deployments must establish real-world performance before the test can advance toward approval and distribution.