I will be traveling to Lagos, Nigeria from September 30th to October 8th as part of the RAD-AID Nigeria team. The project will be conducted at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Nigeria. The project I will be undertaking will be the Radiology Readiness Assessment which was developed by RAD-AID in 2010 and has been used and endorsed by the World Health Organization since 2012. The goal of the project will be to assess the readiness of the hospital to implement various radiological techniques in treating patients. The project will also aim at identifying areas of need in the community served by the hospital and will put steps in place that ensures viable radiological techniques can be implemented to improve patient health outcomes.
This project will be conducted in Lagos, Nigeria which is home to approximately 16,000,000 people as of 2023 and the whole nation of Nigeria has a population of over 220,000,000 people. However, access to the field of radiology and the health benefits it proffers is minimal. One of the limitations being experienced in the field of radiology in Nigeria currently is a shortage of trainers. Another limitation is the unavailability of constant electricity and adequate equipment and repair. Conducting this effort in Nigeria can help assess how the existing roadblocks to radiology can be circumnavigated. In addition, it can bring to light existing infrastructure upon which certain radiology techniques can thrive and help establish those techniques. Furthermore, this effort will help evaluate techniques in radiology that will most benefit the population served by LASUTH and can help with the establishment of training in that technique. Once a training program is put in place, that program will be self-sustaining and can train future healthcare providers in the field of radiology.
Upon the completion of this project, we will have a better understanding of the radiological methods that can best impact the patient population served at LASUTH. That will make it possible to focus on maximizing the impact that radiology can have on the patients served. This project will highlight the infrastructure already put in place and will help elucidate which radiology techniques can best take advantage of the system. Once that is brought to light, we will help with the establishment of training programs that will be self-sustaining and will help train future healthcare providers.
We worked with Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) during my trip to Nigeria. LASUTH is a tertiary care center, so the patient population they serve is comprised of citizens from all parts of Nigeria. This being the case, it was apparent that there was a more robust patient population than healthcare providers to serve them.
