Poster promoting mass miniature radiography, showing man with handkerchief, titled 's it a smoker's cough/?'

Mass miniature radiography was used to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) from 1936 onwards. The X-rays produced were only 100 mm high. Tuberculosis was a difficult disease to diagnose as carriers might appear outwardly healthy yet still be capable of spreading the disease. Signs of the disease, such as lesions in the lungs, could be picked up by mobile radiography units. These were taken around the country – particularly to factories and other places of work – and set up so people could be diagnosed early and be treated more effectively, thus preventing further spread of the disease. The posters were aimed at all sections of society in the United Kingdom.

Mass miniature radiography became less of a feature of British life in the 1960s with the decline of TB in the United Kingdom, but is still used in countries were the disease remains widespread.