Experience with an ultrasound donation program in a low-income country

Abstract

Increasing radiology capacity in low-income countries (LIC) can improve clinicians’ access to diagnostic imaging tools and improve patient care. Ultrasound (US) is important in LIC due to its lower cost compared to that of CT or MRI scans and its excellent diagnostic ability. The relative portability of the equipment makes it ideal for donation by charitable organizations. We describe our experience as a radiology-capacity-focused charity working with the Haitian healthcare system and propose strategies to increase ultrasound capacity in other poor countries.

From Seeing to Knowing with Artificial Intelligence: A Scoping Review of Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Low-Resource Settings

“…LRS represent populations who can benefit from POCUS innovations since there exists a lack of imaging resources, with almost 50% of patients in rural areas requiring transfer to advanced centers for basic imaging [19]. While POCUS shows promise in LRS, barriers such as limited training, maintenance, and on-site analysis remain challenges [20]. Therefore, POCUS research has been focused on implementing and evaluating training systems to increase the usage of POCUS in practice in LRS [21].…”