The context
X-ray imaging appeared at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and is one of the greatest revolutions in modern medicine. Developed as a diagnostic tool, it allows the indirect visualization of the anatomy, the physiology, or the metabolism of the human body. Its purpose is to represent in a relatively simple format a large amount of information.
According to WHO figures, more than two thirds of the world’s population does not have access to this essential x-ray imaging equipment. Too often in developing countries, patients die of trivial problems, which, due to a lack of access to diagnosis, take dramatic proportions. Road accidents, tuberculosis, and complications from childhood pneumonia are the most recurrent examples of pathologies causing complications that could have been prevented with functional and efficient x-ray imaging services.
The lack of access to these tools by developing countries is due to the mismatch between existing technologies and the local context, to the high cost of equipment that contributes to the increase in the costs of healthcare, but also to the lack of available human resources qualified to handle them.
