• By: Emaan Waqar
  • emaanwaqarazeem@gmail.com

Food for thought. Ignore the idiom, and read the phrase literatim. According to research, up to 80% of an adult’s abilities develop within their first 1000 days, including their cognitive growth. But what of the 2.8 billion people around the globe without access to a healthy diet? Bear in mind, that a vast majority of diseases can be easily prevented with the aid of a well-balanced nutritional meal; a staggering 10.6% deaths in 2021 alone. With the US taking the lead in healthcare expenditure, $4.5 trillion in 2022, it still has the highest rate of avoidable deaths (Figure 1) among OECD nations per year, according to a recent study by The Commonwealth Fund. So what is the key factor that needs to be addressed in order to promote preventative healthcare and uplift human quality of life globally? It is simply the affordability of healthcare.

  • Figure 1: Trends in avoidable deaths from 2000-2020

“They lose money, they lose care, they lose faith in the system,” says Caitlin Donovan, Senior Director at the Patient Advocate Foundation. This is a direct criticism towards the exorbitant charges of medical drugs in the US. The heartburn medication, Nexium, costs $215 in the States, and $23 in the Netherlands. Or Valtrex, for Herpes infections, stands at $806.27 against just $4.9 in India. Harvard University’s David Cutler emphasises that “Our administrative expenses are considerably higher than those of most other nations.” Not only medical treatments but routine doctor visits have significantly decreased to just 4.1% in the US. This is primarily due to the unnecessary scans and tests every patient must sit through during each visit. It is imperative to detect the early stages of health issues and not limit healthcare specialists to ‘sick care’ only, which otherwise inevitably paves the way for diseases to thrive unnoticed, demoting preventative healthcare.

There have been significant efforts by various government bodies to subsidise healthcare and make it more accessible. Australia and Thailand have implemented a universal healthcare system that is funded through taxes, while Germany has a mandatory health insurance system in place with premiums based on varying incomes. India’s ‘Ayushman Bharat’ health assurance scheme is the largest in the world, providing approximately $6,800 per family. The community-based health insurance scheme of Ethiopia allows for communities to prepay for health services permitting them to be entitled to the ownership and management of the entire procedure. Apart from this, various health schemes have been established by numerous countries to curb detrimental issues. Such as the ‘Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme’ that successfully increased coverage rates in high-risk areas like 95% in KP and 93% in Sindh. The Thai government initiated an extensive HIV prevention initiative, the “100% Condom Use Program,” aimed at curbing the transmission of HIV by focusing on sex workers and their clientele.

But perhaps the most notable effort was initiated by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador when he unveiled the “La Nueva Mesa” (The New Table) campaign, aimed at enhancing the nutrition of Mexicans and promoting healthier eating habits by addressing processed and imported foods. This series of online campaigns across different telecommunications addressed the risks of consuming processed foods and emphasized the high rates of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes these foods have caused. Having lost their “decision-making power”, the campaign further advocated ‘Mexican products like avocados from Michoacán, fish from Baja California, and strawberries from Guanajuato, and stated, “Our land offers us health, growth, and well-being.’”. This should be taken as a global inspiration in an attempt to improve the quality of human life worldwide.

As previously mentioned, the affordability of healthcare can be significantly magnified through distinct means. One such strategy could be applied through the use of smart devices. The prototype of a ‘Portable Smart Mini Patient Monitor’ as proposed by a group of students from Ziauddin University in Pakistan, may just be the key to that (Figure 2). With the ability to record and display the core vital signs; of pulse rate, body temperature, electrocardiogram (ECG), and Oxygen Saturation (SPO2); this device aims to provide accessible, precise and efficient healthcare while promoting timely intervention through remote diagnostics, limiting routine visits to the doctor. The rapidly growing population demands increased healthcare, and making use of such devices can help reduce hospitals’ expenditure on similar machines, and detect critical irregularities within patients early on, which will ultimately lead the way towards preventative healthcare. “For example, an AI model may be able to predict a person’s likelihood of developing diabetes by analyzing their medical history and offering preventive lifestyle recommendations such as dietary changes or increased exercise.” The aforementioned patient monitor collects data from multiple sensors and processes it through the Arduino UNO microcontroller. Once processed, the data is displayed onto the LCD screen which is connected to smartphones via Bluetooth and will be visible on the app.

  • Figure 2: Schematic Diagram of smart mini patient monitor

Such devices could be enhanced further through the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI). With every patient in possession of their own personal assistant, the trained AI model must be established under the following framework as proposed by a recent study:

  1. “Construction of a deep-learning algorithm model for application to core vital signals;
  2. Detection and classification of abnormal patterns (spectra) on core vital signals; and
  3. Validation and improvement of the predictive model on a new database.”

In doing so, personalized health plans, continuous monitoring of health data, and significant improvement of the prognosis for patients can be promised with data that is highly reliable. It has also been revealed that AI systems could classify skin cancer images with the same accuracy as dermatologists, and in certain instances, even outperform them.

Utilizing the vast technological advances in this century should become our top priority, in order to revolutionize the global fight towards affordable healthcare which can only be won on an international scale after citizens voice their concerns, while member states pave the way towards universal healthcare.

By Admin

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