Despite the considerable progress made by nuclear medicine (NM) centres in Africa, many of them are threatened by poor reliability and sustainability. Insufficient funding, equipment failure, an irregular supply of radiopharmaceuticals and human resources constraints are some of the factors threaten the longevity of African NM programmes. "The cost of establishing a nuclear medicine facility has consistently been a barrier to many countries in Africa," explained Mr Mulugeta Amha, Acting Director of the Department of Technical Cooperation's Division for Africa.
With the goal of addressing the challenges posed by operation and maintenance costs, 43 medical professionals attended an IAEA-organized Regional Meeting on Strengthening and Sustaining of Nuclear Medicine Programmes in Africa, held at the Agency's Vienna headquarters from 5-9 October. The meeting was coordinated under an ongoing technical cooperation (TC) project which unites the efforts of 23 Member States from the African region. The project itself is the result of collaboration through AFRA, the African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology.
Held concurrently with the International Conference on Clinical PET-CT and Molecular Imaging (IPET 2015), which itself drew over 500 delegates to the Vienna International Centre, the African regional meeting provided an opportunity for senior national officials to share their experiences in enhancing the longevity of their nuclear medicine programmes through sustainable policies. Nuclear medicine specialists from Algeria, Egypt and Namibia provided keynote presentations in which they demonstrated the best practices which they had implemented domestically to ensure sustainability. These best practices, with additional examples from other countries, have been compiled into a draft Strategy for Enhancing Sustainability of Nuclear Medicine in Africa. The goal of this strategic document is to support Africa's efforts to achieve one of the Sustainable Development Goals targets: namely, to reduce by one third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment by 2030.
Among other items, the draft Strategy proposes interventions to increase access to nuclear medicine services in Africa; raise awareness among health professionals, policy makers and the public about the role of nuclear medicine; enhance self-reliance and reliability in established nuclear medicine facilities; make nuclear medicine services more affordable; and enhance human resources for sustainability of NM services in Africa.
Attendance at IPET 2015 sessions and participation in this regional NM sustainability meeting had a profound impact on senior health ministry officials. Dr Henry Ndindi, Deputy Director of Clinical Services at the Malawi Ministry of Health, drew attention to a lack of awareness of nuclear medicine and its value. Following the meeting, however, he explained, "I learned a lot about what nuclear medicine is capable of, ranging from diagnosis to treatment to following up on prognoses. Moreover, it can be used against infectious diseases, not just non-communicable ones."
"Many of the obstacles to establishing and sustaining nuclear medicine programmes that African countries face are not novel and have been overcome in other areas of healthcare", highlighted May Abdel-Wahab, the Director of the Division of Human Health. "The IAEA will continue to support African member states in addressing these multi-faceted challenges in Nuclear Medicine. The IAEA, through the Human Health and Technical Cooperation programmes, supports nuclear medicine education, training, establishing new facilities, updating relevant technology, expertise and equipment, as well as implementing appropriate clinically relevant diagnostic and therapeutic applications." She encouraged IAEA Member States to take advantages of the various available resources, such as IAEA publications in nuclear medicine, and e-learning opportunities on the Human Health Campus such as DATOL, among others.
Through its technical cooperation programme, the IAEA is devoted to supporting Member States as they seek to establish and maintain their technical capacities in nuclear medicine. However, the Agency cannot act alone. The draft strategy emphasizes the need for policymakers and healthcare-practitioners to implement best practices to ensure that the resources, training and goodwill invested into nuclear medicine programmes do not go to waste. "Implementation of this strategy will require strong government commitment and ownership - which is a key guiding principle in the IAEA technical cooperation programme", explained Mr Amha. He further emphasized that this comprehensive strategic plan should be implemented and that its progress monitored by both sides. "This is a joint responsibility and shared accountability", he noted.
Reaffirming the Agency's support to nuclear medicine programme in Africa, Mr Amha announced that a new regional project and nine national technical cooperation projects are in the final approval process for implementation in the 2016-2017 TC cycle. These projects will contribute toward expansion and sustainability of nuclear medicine services in Africa and will take into account the strategic document and the recommendations agreed during the meeting.
