Introducing Ultrasound to Rural Africa: A Radiology Resident’s Recipe for Success

Abstract

Last year, I spent 6 months setting up an ultrasound service at a rural clinic in the Mangochi district of central Malawi. Malawi, in southern Africa, is the eighth poorest country in Africa [ 1 UNICEF. Malawi: statistics. Available at: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/malawi_statistics.html. Accessed February 2, 2015. Google Scholar ], with a gross domestic product per capita of $880. Fifty-four percent of Malawians live under the poverty line, earning less than $1 per day. Malawi has a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection prevalence of 10%, with approximately 1.1 million people infected with HIV [ 2 Chibwe H. Malawi ranked 8th among African poorest countries in 2014. Nyasa Times. Available at: http://www.nyasatimes.com/2014/11/25/malawi-ranked-8th-among-african-poorest-countries-in-2014/. Accessed February 2, 2015. Google Scholar ].