Episode #84 - Future of health

VGS   2023 will mark the 75th year of WHO. While the world has achieved many public health milestones in these 75 years, in Science in 5 today we will take a look into the future. What are the innovations we can expect and what will be our biggest challenges? Hello and welcome to Science in 5. I am Vismita Gupta-Smith. We are talking to Dr. Soumya Swaminathan. Welcome, Soumya. Soumya, paint us a picture of what health for all will look like in the future.

SS   So when I look 20, 25 years into the future Vismita, and I imagine a family living in a rural area in a village anywhere in the world, what I see is that this family has a proper house to live in, that the problem of air pollution has been handled so that people are breathing clean air, that the family uses renewable or clean sources of energy so that there's no more need to use solid fuel for their heating and cooking needs, that they have running water, safe water, as well as improved sanitation facilities that would have reduced the risks of infectious diseases. 

I imagine a community health worker living in that village or nearby who would know every family in the village and who would have the tools to deal with the common health problems that families face from children to the elderly. And it's not just about diagnosing and treating common diseases, but with much more of a focus on health promotion and preventive health care. So, for example, I imagine that people of all ages would receive vaccines, not just children; that there would be a regular screening program for things like high blood pressure, diabetes, as well as common cancers; that there would be attention to rehabilitation so that people who have had a stroke or have some kind of disabilities or people, in fact, who have aging related disorders like dementia actually have a place in the community where they can go, where they can get physiotherapy and rehabilitation, but also be able to spend quality time with other senior citizens. Preschool and a creche, again, would be in every village so that every newborn child with a working mother would have access to a facility where they get both physical care, but also cognitive stimulation and good nutrition. So I'm really imagining in the future that we have a much more holistic view towards a healthy life and well-being.

VGS   Soumya what are the innovations we can expect which will help us achieve this goal of health for all? 

SS   So clearly that there will be many innovations, including ones that we cannot imagine just now. But I think of the existing technologies, I could say that a couple of them would play increasingly important roles. One of them is genomics, because we are getting a much better understanding now of the role of genomic technologies in prevention, but also in treatment of diseases and also in the area of pathogen surveillance so that we keep track of the bugs in our environment and are aware of the ones that may cause disease in the future. But also, we will have technologies like gene editing and the CRISPR Cas9 technologies that will make it more easy to do treatment of genetic diseases like sickle cell anaemia, for example. And I also see digital technologies expanding with more people having access to these tools, including healthcare workers. This will enable the latest information to reach people so that they can take better care of their health. But I can also see artificial intelligence algorithms helping doctors and health care workers in making diagnoses. I also imagine that we will have more vaccines, even for non-communicable diseases. Cancer vaccines, for example.

VGS   Soumya, speak to us about the challenges. What would be our biggest challenges going forward?

SS   I think some of the bigger challenges are going to be in the areas of equity and ethics. Equity, because we've seen in the recent past that new technologies take a very long time to reach people in low income countries. And the world has to do better at providing equitable access to health products, which are essentially life saving products. Secondly, I think the area of ethics and the use of new scientific technologies, which are quite often a double edged sword, will become more important. And I hope that more debates in countries and the setting up of national bioethics committees will help to resolve this because Science will offer a lot of possibilities and new tools, but these have to be used wisely. And finally, I think that the whole area of misinformation, disinformation, mistrust in science needs to be handled. And I think the best way of doing that is by building scientific literacy, starting from schoolchildren. 

VGS   Thank you. Soumya, that was Science in 5 today. Until next time then, stay safe, stay healthy and stick with science.