Philips Foundation and RAD-AID International embark on a multi-year cross-continental partnership to increase access to ultrasound services for 50 million people in low- and middle-income countries

September 13, 2022

• Philips Foundation and RAD-AID International leverage Philips’ expertise in mobile ultrasound services to improve access to virtual care in hard-to-reach areas
• New partnership sets up intensive program in 10 countries to train a wide range of health workers and specialists through real-time distance education and simulated procedure demonstrations
• Co-created program aims to reach 50 million people by deploying hundreds of ultrasound devices that allow for remote healthcare thousands of kilometers away

 Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Philips Foundation, with its mission to provide access to quality healthcare for 100 million people a year in underserved communities by 2030, together with Philips and RAD-AID International, today announced a multi-year cross-continental partnership to promote access to diagnostic ultrasound services in ten countries.

RAD-AID International, a US-based non-profit organization, will leverage the virtual care capabilities of Philips ultrasound solutions to provide a highly scalable, remote ‘train-the-trainer’ model to improve access to diagnostic and point-of-care ultrasound through curriculum-based education and clinical hands-on teaching. With these solutions, ultrasound experts, such as radiologists and sonographers, can communicate with training program participants thousands of kilometers away via voice, video and text messages, view the ultrasound images taken in real time, and remotely demonstrate equipment settings during guided ultrasound exams if necessary.

“By adopting a ‘train-the-trainer’ model, first-generation healthcare workers can contribute to the education of the next generation of ultrasound practitioners,” said Daniel J. Mollura, President and CEO of RAD-AID International. “This innovative and ambitious initiative has a remarkable reach, and is both sustainable and scalable. We at RAD-AID look forward to working with the Philips Foundation in the coming years to improve the lives of millions of people through real-time ultrasound education and remote support.”

“Despite the well-known benefits of early detection and timely treatment, diagnostic imaging is not available in many rural and remote areas where resources are scarce,” said Margot Cooijmans, Director of the Philips Foundation. “Through this collaboration with RAD-AID International, who provide a high quality of service delivery, we can offer equipment and enable remote training in ten underserved areas, with a clear focus on increasing the number of patients who benefit from remote access to professional radiologists. Enhancing technology to improve healthcare for underserved populations defines this collaboration and is at the heart of our mission.”

Philips Foundation, Philips and RAD-AID International all have a track record of improving access to ultrasound by training local health workers. For example, in recent years, Philips Foundation has developed several innovative models to address various gaps in access to ultrasound solutions. Together with healthcare experts, non-governmental organizations, and social entrepreneurs, it has pioneered task-sharing models and explored aspects such as delivery, referral, and income models to enable access to ultrasound for prenatal care. Philips innovates in connected care solutions that support healthcare systems and improve access to care for millions of people across the world. The company has set up tele-ultrasound programs that link specialists around the globe with local physicians in underserved communities to train them and enable them to provide potentially life-saving ultrasound scans to pregnant women.

This multi-year initiative aims to reach around 50 million people across Africa, Asia, North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Kenya, Laos, Nepal, Malawi, Tanzania, and the US. During the project’s initial phase, RAD-AID International is deploying the model in the first five high-impact regional sites. Learnings from phase-one deployment will help Philips Foundation and RAD-AID International co-create new educational strategies for second-phase deployment.

For further information, please contact:

Joost Maltha 
Philips Global Press Office 
Tel: +31 6 10 55 8116  
E-mail: [email protected]

Yannick Eshuijs
Philips Foundation
Tel.: +31 6 1852 6633
E-mail: [email protected]

Daniel J. Mollura
RAD-AID International
E-mail: [email protected]  

About Philips Foundation
Philips Foundation is a registered non-profit organization established in 2014 – with a mission to provide access to quality healthcare for underserved communities across the globe. By leveraging Philips’ capabilities and combining them with the experience and expertise of non-governmental organizations and other community-focused and impact-driven enterprises, Philips Foundation helps create innovative pathways to open up affordable healthcare for communities most in need. By also partnering with innovative social entrepreneurs rooted in the local ecosystem, Philips Foundation aims to increase access to healthcare for 100 million people a year by 2030. More information can be found at www.philips-foundation.com

About Royal Philips

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and well-being, and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum – from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2021 sales of EUR 17.2 billion and employs approximately 78,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter

About RAD-AID

RAD-AID International is a non-profit (501c3) charitable organization with the mission of increasing and improving radiology and medical imaging for medically underserved regions. RAD-AID delivers radiology education and training through on-site and hands-on teaching of healthcare workers in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), as well as low-resource facilities in medically underserved communities of high-income countries. RAD-AID designs, builds, and implements healthcare infrastructure, imaging equipment, and radiology technology, integrated with clinical training, to accomplish vital radiology capacity-building. The organization consists of over 15,000 volunteers and 85 university-based medical center chapters and operates global health outreach programs in 40 countries across Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean. As radiology is vital to most health services, such as cancer treatment, maternal-fetal monitoring, heart disease care, and trauma response, RAD-AID improves the accessibility, safety, and quality of radiology worldwide as an anchor for improving global health. Learn more at www.rad-aid.org