Bring Radiology to Those in Need
Half the world has no access to radiology. That means no ultrasound for helping babies and mothers; no mammography for breast cancer screening; no x-ray for trauma victims; no CT for cancer staging and surgical planning; no MRI for brain and spine disease; no angiography for heart disease, and the list goes on and on. Radiology is the technological backbone of advanced health care systems for delivering screening, diagnosis, and treatment to patients, but it is the missing hole in the health care systems of developing countries and low-resource areas. RAD-AID started 10 years ago with a simple mission: increase and improve radiology for medically underserved areas. We have grown to be over 9000 volunteers serving in 53 hospitals and 27 countries, and we hope to continue our mission and growth. We bring radiology equipment, training, and sustainable support to hospitals that need radiology for taking care of their patients. We work shoulder-to-shoulder and hands-on with health workers all over the world to bring radiology and medical images to the patient’s bedside. Each RAD-AID program is uniquely tailored to the needs and resources of a hospital and community through our specialized and trademarked Radiology-Readiness Assessment, which is an in-depth data-collection and analysis step for first understanding what radiology solution can make the best impact for a low-resource medical facility. So, our programs are diverse to create those unique solutions based on a data-driven, heart-filled, and perseverant method, which include a mobile women’s health in India, information technology deployment in Ghana, a new radiology residency in Guyana, inter-institutional training of doctors in Tanzania, a new ultrasound for children in Laos, rural ultrasound in Appalachian Virginia, mobile mammography in mid-Atlantic USA, x-ray radiography teaching in Malawi, and MRI support in Ethiopia, as a few examples. RAD-AID believes in creating a creating a special mix of charitable outreach, teaching, and innovation that not only brings greater global health but also brings the world closer together.
