Neuroimaging access in Chad: Infrastructure barriers and opportunities for accessible magnetic resonance imaging

Limited access to neuroimaging remains a major constraint on neurological care in many low-resource areas. We conducted a descriptive landscape analysis of neuroimaging access in Chad using hospital-reported data, publicly available healthcare and infrastructure data, and contextual information from clinicians and radiology personnel at major hospitals in N'Djamena. This analysis characterizes key constraints on neuroimaging access in Chad and highlights practical considerations for expanding imaging capacity in resource-limited settings. Chad has only one magnetic resonance imaging scanner for a population of approximately twenty-one million. The country's major hospitals and imaging workforce are concentrated in the capital, and the sole MRI system is an older 0.35 T scanner located at a private hospital. Access is further limited by scan cost, geographic centralization, unreliable electricity, limited technical support, and shortages of trained imaging personnel. Hospital data indicate a substantial burden of neurological conditions, particularly stroke and neurological infections, for which imaging can be important for diagnosis and management. We place these findings in the context of emerging lower-cost, compact, and mobile magnetic resonance imaging technologies. Such systems may reduce some infrastructure and siting requirements, but limitations related to image quality, maintenance, workforce capacity, and long-term sustainability remain important considerations.