According to Global Burden of Disease estimates, maternal/neonatal disorders and respiratory infections are among the top five causes of death and disability in low, low-middle, and middle sociodemographic index countries.7 A recent systematic review also found that respiratory tract infections and pregnancy are among the top ten reasons why patients present to PC.8
Beyond WHO guidelines, CXR and ultrasound are used routinely to manage patient care for non-communicable diseases such as trauma, cancer and chronic conditions (e.g., cardiac, hepatic, kidney and musculoskeletal disease). While these applications are more typical at the secondary level, there is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of ultrasound in PC.9 For detecting pneumonia, for example, ultrasound outperforms CXR and provides accuracy that is comparable to CT scans.10
To scale up access to imaging at the PC level in LMICs, international stakeholders – health care professionals and their associations, country and regional governments, academia, industry, local and international NGOs—will need to remove policy barriers, train medical experts, invest in evidence generation, increase affordability, and ensure that regulation keeps pace with market expansions while respecting data protection… READ MORE
