OUR MISSION
Our mission is to ensure that patients from low and middle income countries have the same access to Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) as everyone else.
We believe CMR can be made faster, easier and cheaper – sufficient for delivery in countries where health care access is poor.
Map of the world displaying each country's Gross National Income (GNI) per capita. Countries are shaded according to developing / developed country status, as determined by the World Bank. According to Bank guidelines, a country is developing if its GNI per capita is less than $12,745.
Source: GNI per capita - developing countries, World Bank
OUR OBJECTIVES
1) To develop a rapid CMR protocol including contrast for developing countries, and to deliver it, embedding it within clinical care, training and mentoring so it is a self-sustaining and essential service.
2) To prove whether the above service is of (in order) technical quality, diagnostic utility, changing management and cost effective.
3)To use CMR as a research method in the developing world specifically to complement research in the developed world – either to focus on areas of specific need to developing countries or to exploit opportunities not available (through geography, demographics, epidemiology or therapeutic options).
How can Cardiac Magnetic Resonance being available in developing countries?
Within the portfolio and hierarchy of cardiovascular diagnostic testing, Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) is now essential for many scenarios, but is expensive with poor training and there is limited availability in developing countries.
Our project aims to promote the use of a rapid cardiac magnetic resonance protocol, mainly focusing on studying the core of CMR: cardiac volumes, function and scar imaging. (with selected additions like iron quantification)
Why is it important to improve the diagnosis of cardiac diseases in developing countries?
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most important cause of death worldwide, 17.7 millions of individual died of CVD annually. CVD has been previously connected as a disease in rich countries. However, current data shows that 85% of CVD occurs developing countries, representing 30% of all global deaths. Therefore, CVD kills more people in poor countries. Part of this reason is the suboptimal access to therapy (medicine/surgery), but also suboptimal testing access. Doctors cannot treat accurately when there is incorrect diagnosis.
