As we move ever closer to a new era for the global medical community, it is clear that seismic efforts to improve the lives of billions have not slowed throughout the past year and a half. Read more below.
- A Turning Point for Some of Medicine’s Biggest Dilemmas
Covid-19 engendered its fair share of unprecedented circumstances, but living within the tight grip of a health crisis was not one of them. Around the world, communities and entire populations have endured generations’ worth of pain and hardship at the hands of health threats which, despite efforts, continued to compromise the well-being of otherwise healthy individuals.
Take, for instance, malaria – an infectious disease spread by the inexorable mosquito in many areas of the world, from South-East Asia to the Americas. While preventative treatments have been used to great effect for many years, they are all-too-often unavailable to many of the most vulnerable.
Still, work on developing a vaccine has been ongoing, with remarkable progress being made in recent months. For instance, researchers at Imperial College London recently unveiled a new technique for extracting malaria parasites from mosquitoes quickly and effectively, with a view to expediting the process of creating a vaccine that can, eventually, be rolled out among vulnerable populations.
- A ‘New Normal’
We have, by now, grown used to the notion of a new normal sitting somewhere on the horizon. While none of us know quite what to expect, we are aware that a future ‘normality’ will draw upon familiar ways of life, while also learning from past mistakes, and forging new ways of doing things that are safer and more sustainable in terms of our health and wellbeing.
The concept of the new normal applies to every aspect of life, but will be noticed most strongly within the medical world, where reform is vital for everyone – whether hospital workers, researchers, or the patients themselves.
From utilizing pivotal technologies like 3D printing, and telemedicine – even adopting new tools, like the self-retaining surgical retractor from June Medical, which serve to limit the number of individuals required in ORs and other areas of the hospital – we can feel confident that, while this period of transition will be a challenge, the medical world will be better for it in the future.
- New Breakthroughs Moving Us Toward Precision Medicine
The ability to practice precision medicine represents something of an ideal scenario in many areas of broader world of diagnostics, but we have long since been aware that this complex new approach relies on the combined efforts of hundreds of developers working in the disparate fields of pharmacogenomics, technology, research and data collation in order for it to become a reality.
Now, however, we are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel as these three separate fields move gradually toward a turning point in our fight for precision medicine.
From new discoveries to new developments on the side of technology, we can envisage a future marked by a more individualistic approach to patient care and treatment.
