Health/disease: Emerging technologies and attendant risks

Explore the evolution of healthcare in the last century, from pandemics to technological advancements, in this insightful e-book.

The last century has been a time of frenetic activity – of changes, advancements and regression – even as man stayed on the path of the quest for longevity and good health. While pathogens have come around, much like fashion, in a cyclical pattern, the human capacity to handle what is thrown at it has evolved rapidly, armed as it is with solid tools in the armamentarium. We see that advances in clinical and pharmacological research and development and technology have come in leaps and bounds, as we view this century through the rear-view mirror.

The cataclysmic COVID-19 pandemic that is still retreating from our line of sight has, in a very short while, dramatically changed our understanding of healthcare. As if it was the revenge of science, striking back at a race that had long kept it at the periphery and in peer-reviewed journal, health and wellness entered the hearth and the heart of our consciousness.

As our knowledge expanded, with the benefit of a lived experience and technology at a gallop, we learnt to handle things differently.

For one, preparedness has become the watchword. We are always on the lookout for the next pathogen, Disease X that might cause the next pandemic; we have a pandemic treaty between nations in place for co-operation; vaccine technology that sits on very advanced platforms; we have learnt the value of sharing scientific information freely; nations have learnt to work together; they have a better understanding of One Health; and we are finally grasping the threads to understand the full magnitude of the impact of climate change on health.

This package, the first of several such endeavours, is an attempt to bring our readers up to scratch on the latest in health care, from both sides of the bed. It has rich pickings from the writings and musings of experts in various fields – from emerging pathogens, to the impact of social media on mental health, new- age gene-editing technology, AI in health care, the challenges of non-communicable diseases, and antimicrobial resistance, medical wearables, and One Health. This is a book to keep, for it attempts to look to the future, in the context of the past.