Migra-Aid

Migraine affects one in seven people worldwide, yet specialist care remains scarce and hard to reach. Migra-Aid is built to give people something to do in the moment, and evidence to bring to their next appointment.

Migraine is one of the most common and most under-treated conditions in medicine, affecting more than a billion people, around one in seven people globally. In the UK alone it affects at least 10 million people, with an estimated 190,000 attacks happening every single day. Beyond the pain itself, migraine brings nausea, light and sound sensitivity, and visual disturbance that can make it impossible to work, care for family, or function for hours or days at a time.

The system built to help people with migraine is under real strain. Specialist neurology waiting times in England nearly doubled between 2021 and 2023, from 15 weeks to 29 weeks, driven by a shortage of specialist doctors and nurses. General practice manages millions of headache consultations annually, yet the lack of objective, consistent record of symptoms between visits often prevents clinicians from establishing clear diagnoses or long-term management plans. This care gap contributes heavily to the broader societal impact of migraine, which a 2023 analysis valued at over £12 billion a year in lost productivity and healthcare use.

Dr Baribefe Vite is an NHS primary care doctor for whom migraine is one of the most common reasons patients come to see him. The idea for Migra-Aid grew from watching people close to him live with the condition, and from seeing patients who cannot take standard pharmacological treatment, symptom histories no one can quite recall, and referrals to specialists that arrive without the detail those specialists need.

Baribefe developed an app called Migra-Aid that combines a simple headache diary with an on-demand EMDR module, a technique using guided eye movements, breathing and gentle self-applied touch to help calm the nervous system's stress response during an attack. It gives patients a non-drug option to fall back on and it is designed to work alongside a person's existing care rather than replace it.

“Migraine takes control away from people. I want Migra-Aid to hand a little of that back: a non-drug option to reach for the moment an attack starts, and a way to actually track what's happening over time instead of relying on memory. Even a small sense of agency, in a moment that usually leaves you with none, matters.”

Migra-Aid includes a headache diary that logs severity, duration, medication use and context such as sleep, stress and hydration, an on-demand EMDR module combining diaphragmatic breathing, self-applied cranial compression and a choice of visual, auditory or tactile bilateral stimulation, before and after ratings so users can see what is helping, and rolling summaries of headache frequency, severity and rescue medication use that give a clearer picture between appointments.

Migra-Aid’s approach is grounded in a growing evidence base for EMDR as a migraine intervention. It offers people a way to respond to migraine in the moment, and clinicians a clearer picture of what is happening between appointments. The app is built and ready for a pilot.