Health

Healthcare technology, or healthtech, is the use of technology to better treat patients. Many such inventions have been credited for saving countless human lives since the 1800s.

Medicines, devices, procedures, and even organizational systems contribute to expanding life expectancy and improvements in quality of life.

From Fiction to Reality

Breakthroughs such as robotic arms, 3D bio-printed organs, and virtual reality for pain relief are being developed in the medical sector, drawing influences from the big screen.

Technologies that were once the staple of science fiction movies are rapidly becoming realities.

— Jeroen Tas, Chief Innovation Officer, Philips

Technology is providing new strategies for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.

Artificial intelligence, IoT, and mHealth are contributing to rapidly expanding healthtech sector, and each are expected to experience rapid growth by 2025:

*2018E for AI, 2017 for IoT, 2016 for mHealth.

In China, drones with facial recognition technology are being used to track those affected with coronavirus to ensure they do not break quarantine and risk spreading the virus.

The most effective use of technology, however, is data-based health interventions for maternal and child health, which rely on the use of analytics to identity new mothers and to direct prenatal and postnatal educational campaigns to them. Using interventions to prevent diseases before they occur has proven to be particularly effective in cities with a high disease burden and low access to care, such as those in merging countries.

These new technologies are reducing cities’ burden of chronic disease. This is measured across the WHO’s central metric disability-adjusted life years (DALY), which is equal to one year of “healthy” life lost due to contracting a disease. For example, using data-based interventions for maternal care could reduce DALYs by more than 5%.