Nuclear Medicine, Molecular Imaging, and Theranostics in Global Health
摘要
The global availability and accessibility of nuclear medicine is marked by significant disparities, particularly between high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This chapter introduces the concept of nuclear medicine outreach for global health equity. The scarcity of nuclear medicine, including diagnostic imaging modalities (planar Gamma cameras, SPECT, and PET) and therapeutic agents (such as I-131 and peptide receptor radionuclide therapies), represents a deep gap in the healthcare pathways of LMICs. These gaps are particularly deep in cardiovascular medicine and oncology, which are leading worldwide causes of mortality and morbidity. Consequently, global health entities have advocated for nuclear medicine capacity-building as part of a public health response to healthcare disparities. We present ways in which such nuclear medicine capacity-building can be initiated and sustained, warranting great attention to the readiness of facilities to use radiopharmaceuticals safely and effectively. Long-term international efforts to increase medically underserved populations’ access to nuclear medicine will aim to address equipment procurement and maintenance, workforce education, radiopharmaceutical supply chain management, stakeholder relations, patient care service development, leadership, governance, regulatory systems, financial resource mobilization, and data management.