Nigeria Has Fewer Than 700 Radiologists for 230 Million People. This AI Reads an X-Ray in 45 Seconds.

We’ve written about the 10 radiation therapy centres serving Nigeria’s entire cancer patient population. The radiologist shortage behind that kind of gap is just as stark: international guidelines recommend 100 to 120 radiologists per million people, but Nigeria has fewer than 700 consultant radiologists for a population of over 230 million, meaning a single specialist could be responsible for more than 300,000 people, and most are concentrated in major cities.

Nexus AI, a South African company, built its answer to that gap around a specific constraint: it assumed clinics wouldn’t have reliable infrastructure. The tool analyses chest X-rays and flags possible abnormalities, including signs suggestive of tuberculosis, in about 45 seconds, and runs on edge devices, meaning it works on a laptop with no internet connection, letting rural clinics make clinical decisions on the spot. The company has deployed it alongside portable, battery-powered X-ray machines in mountainous parts of Lesotho and even demonstrated a chest X-ray screening roughly four kilometres underground in a mine.

Crucially, Nexus doesn’t replace radiologists, it’s certified as a Class IIb medical device designed to help prioritise which X-rays need urgent specialist attention. An independent evaluation published in The Lancet Digital Health ranked it among the top two performing AI models tested against a standard TB screening dataset, helping it access procurement channels used by the Global Fund and Stop TB Partnership. The company, self-funded without venture capital, is now operational in more than six African countries and has screened over 50,000 people, while providing more than 15,000 free screenings this year alone. It’s also expanding into silicosis screening for miners, relevant given the mercury exposure and lung disease risks we’ve covered among South Africa’s informal gold miners.

What You Can Do

• If you’re a healthcare administrator in an under-resourced facility, AI-assisted screening tools like this are increasingly accessible through Global Fund and Stop TB Partnership procurement channels, worth investigating for TB-endemic areas specifically.
• Don’t mistake AI screening for a diagnosis. These tools flag cases for radiologist review; they don’t replace a specialist’s final read.

This article is for general information on a medical technology tool. AI screening tools are assistive and do not replace diagnosis by a qualified radiologist or physician.