Speaker
Description
“Strengthening medical imaging capacity” is the name of the WHA78.13 resolution (1), approved by all Member States in the Assembly of the World Health Organization in May 2025, acknowledging the global need. This resolution and the discussion by Member States, recognized that medical imaging is indispensable for diagnosis and treatment of communicable, non-communicable diseases and health conditions, nevertheless the medical technologies required to perform the medical imaging tests are not affordable, not available, and not accessible in multiple low- and middle-income countries. Specifically, Medical Imaging, including nuclear medicine are required to diagnose cancer, hormonal diseases, cardiovascular diseases among other conditions, which should be included in the packages of priority interventions of a Universal health coverage national initiative.
Patients globally need to have access to medical devices, which include those for prevention, diagnostic, treatment, and palliative care. WHO has developed a list of Priority Medical devices, including for cancer management (2) and for cardiovascular diseases ( 3), which is published and also integrated in a web-based database called MeDevIS,(4) which also includes types of technologies, technical specifications and training material when available.
Nuclear medicine technologies are listed in the WHO Priority Medical Devices and have been disseminated to Ministries of Health in seminars, and Fora. The problem lies on the limited economical support as well as human resources to manage these technologies, which sometimes are far from the basic services that can be made available for the population in need.
Nuclear medicine technologies are costly, require specific infrastructure, access to stable energy, consumables, radioactive substances and most important, technical and clinical staff to have proper, appropriate and safe use to diagnose patients promptly and the clinical interventions and medicines to treat them accordingly.
It is important to consider that Biomedical engineers, medical imaging technicians, and Nuclear medicine doctors are needed to ensure good patient outcomes.
WHO and Ministries of Health cannot do the work alone, especially in low- and middle-income countries, therefore, the resolution also encourages NGOs and non-state actors to support the deployment of this equipment and the human resources required.
Technology has been evolving exponentially, and the cost are diminishing, nevertheless, much more has to be done, and the WHA78.13 invites all those concerned to strengthen medical imaging, complementing with another Resolution approved in 2023 that is WHA76.5 (5) Strengthening diagnostics capacity, which is based on the benefits from prompt diagnosis to enhance faster treatment and avoid complications and costly interventions and negative social implications.
The experts could support WHO and Member States by developing training material which can be used by the WHO Academy (6) to train health care workers globally, as well as participating in the Global Diagnostic Coalition (7), where multiple NGOs are uniting efforts to increase diagnosis capacity globally, especially for those patients living in low- and middle-income countries.
Much remains to be done and the collaboration is needed more than ever to ensure patients have a prompt diagnosis and effective treatments, anywhere in the world.
References:
1. WHA78.13. World Health Assembly, 78 (2025). Seventy-eight World Health Assembly: Geneva, 21-30 May 20235: resolutions and decisions, annexes. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA78/A78_R13-en.pdf
2. World Health Organization (2017). WHO list of priority medical devices for cancer management. World Health Organization. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/255262. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
3. World Health Organization (2021). WHO list of priority medical devices for management of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. World Health Organization. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/341967. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
4. MEDEVIS https://medevis.who-healthtechnologies.org/
5. WHA76.5. World Health Assembly, 76 (2023). Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly: Geneva, 21-30 May 2023: resolutions and decisions, annexes. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA76/A76_R5-en.pdf
6. WHO Academy https://www.who.int/about/who-academy
7. Global Diagnostics Coalition https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-diagnostic-coalition
| Track | Deployment of Nuclear Medicine in LMICs: Enabling Technologies |
|---|---|
| Presentation type | Oral |