2025 Concordia Annual Summit

Catching Diseases Earlier: Scaling Imaging Access to Achieve Universal Health Coverage

  • Health Opportunities & Challenges
Patrick Temple-West, Tisha Boatman, Françoise Vanni

Session
Partners

Session Summary

Important
Quotations

“If you diagnose stage four cancer late, even in the best and most well resourced health system in the world, it is still extremely difficult to achieve a positive outcome for the patient.”
Tisha Boatman
“You have community health workers going from village to village with a portable X ray that is AI powered, enabling clinical interpretation and treatment decisions within seconds.”
Françoise Vanni

Key
Takeaways

  • Early Diagnosis Critical for Health Equity: Non-communicable diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease are the world’s top killers, with over 70% of deaths in low and middle-income countries. Early detection dramatically improves outcomes – stage four cancer remains extremely difficult to treat even in well-resourced systems.

 

  • AI-Powered Imaging as Game Changer: AI-enabled portable x-ray systems provide clinical interpretation and treatment guidance within seconds, enabling community health workers to deliver faster care in remote areas. Multi-disease detection maximizes investment impact – in India, TB screening also identified enlarged hearts in 31% of 10,000 patients screened.


  • Concrete Impact of Strategic Investments: Nigeria achieved nearly 40% increase in TB case detection in one year through portable x-ray investments. The Philippines screened over 41,000 people across 26 provinces, leading to over 1,000 new TB treatments. Colombia reduced time from suspicious breast symptoms to treatment from over 180 days to under 60 days.


  • Partnership Imperative: Multi-sectoral collaboration is essential – governments must lead, private sector provides innovation and investment, civil society builds community trust. Community trust drives adoption through personal testimonials and trusted voices to overcome stigma.

 

Action
Items

  • For Policymakers: Invest in comprehensive imaging infrastructure including workforce training and maintenance capabilities. Develop integrated health system approaches addressing the entire diagnostic pathway. Establish multi-sectoral partnership frameworks for government, private sector, and civil society collaboration.

 

  • For Healthcare Training: Integrate AI training from the beginning of medical education to enable healthcare workers to utilize technology effectively. Develop innovative training solutions including simulation tools and virtual programs to address the projected 11 million skilled healthcare worker gap by 2030. Build local maintenance and technical capacity for sustainable equipment operation.

 

  • For Private Sector: Design vendor-agnostic AI solutions that work across different equipment platforms. Create portable, AI-enhanced diagnostic tools for remote area access. Establish trusted information systems to help healthcare providers manage vast amounts of medical information (estimated 80,000 pages annually).

 

  • For International Organizations: Scale proven intervention models like the Global Fund’s $200 million investment in portable x-ray systems across 20 high TB burden countries. Support integrated disease detection approaches that address multiple health conditions simultaneously. Prioritize community engagement and stigma reduction through civil society partnerships and education programs.

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