How can technology prevent deadly outbreaks in the future?

Paul Christie, Co-Founder & CEO techmedExplains how technology can help prevent future pandemics.

The global spread of COVID-19 in 2020 highlighted the importance of accurate health data, rapid vaccination and routine testing to help control and prevent the spread of the disease.

This was a great unknown and has since fueled conversations about how digital diagnostics technology could impact these areas, as well as its potential to transform how healthcare is delivered around the world.

impact on developing countries

In particular, HealthTech stands to achieve the biggest and most immediate results in developing countries where highly infectious diseases continue to wreak havoc. Take yellow fever for example. The CDC estimates that yellow fever causes about 30,000 deaths each year, and 90% of these occur in Africa.

If communities in Africa were equipped with a digital diagnostics device that could quickly detect the first cases of an outbreak, vaccine distribution could be fast-tracked before the situation spiraled out of control.

This will ensure that patients receive medical treatment as quickly as possible and has the potential to transform healthcare in countries where patients are in remote areas or miles away from any medical facilities.

Mobile technology can enable aid workers and health professionals working in villages and towns miles from hospitals to have almost instant access to health data and information on conditions, and facilitate much faster response times to treatments.

With data and results from these devices then shared with global health protection agencies, they can be deployed immediately, and vaccines destined for other regions as high priority are diverted and sent to the affected community. Are being given. The potential of these devices is endless, and the impact they can have is seismic.

looking closer to home

As mentioned above, the deployment of healthtech in developing countries has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives. However, it can play an equally important role closer to home.

In March, the UKHSA (UK Health Protection Agency) announced changes to routine testing for COVID-19, which was still being carried out in some health and care settings – three years after the first cases of the virus. Looking back at 2019, no one was prepared for how the pandemic would play out and the devastating impact it would have on our lives.

Digital diagnostics technology that harnesses the power of big data and almost instantaneously provides physicians and scientists with reliable and vital insights about diseases, another virus or bacterial disease poised to stop spreading rapidly through families and communities Is, as we saw in 2020.

Having an easy-to-use and affordable device within the home would allow patients to self-diagnose and get quicker access to treatment. This is a real game-changer for the prevention of future pandemics.

This wealth of data will help governments and health protection agencies anticipate future threats and could completely transform the pace of response, as well as ensure that any action taken is controlled and informed.

changing perspective

As the pandemic changed people’s outlook on self-testing, with frequent PCR testing becoming a necessity, as well as the use of lateral flow tests, we believe people will soon be able to identify new medical conditions from the comfort of their own home. methods will be adopted. , transforming the way people engage with managing their own health.

Remote testing and diagnosis is truly the future of 21st century healthcare. This will only make healthcare more accessible and ease the pressure on physicians and therapists – the result has been nothing short of positive and will undoubtedly prevent a repeat of the greatest health crisis of modern times.