Episode #84 - Future of health 

11 November 2022 | Science conversation

Vismita Gupta-Smith

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.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan

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.

Vismita Gupta-Smith

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

for all?

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan

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.

Vismita Gupta-Smith

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

forward?

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan

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.

Vismita Gupta-Smith

Thank you. Soumya, that was Science in 5 today. Until next time then, stay safe, stay healthy

and stick with science.