Until recently it was genetic engineering, nano technology- these were the buzz words, about which which once seemed to know or even care little but there was general consensus that these areas would revolutionize healthcare and change it from the way we have known it for the past few decades. The early half of the century was fight against communicable or infectious diseases as we know it and because of three things- immunization, antibiotics and awareness we can be very proud of what we have achieved and this has changed how healthcare has come to be viewed today. If we look at the WHO's top ten leading causes of death, it is cardiac troubles that lead the list followed by stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and all three are to a very large extent lifestyle related. Together they contribute to over 17 mn. deaths worldwide (more than 30%). Infact it is the chronic and terminal ailments that are the challenge of the current century. Why this shift? Solely because the healthcare community has done a real good job and deserves all the credit for this shift in the reasons of mortality from communicable and water borne diseases like TB, Cholera, Small Pox and multiple other infections to Chronic and terminal ones like macro-vascular disease (heart disease and stroke), diabetes, cancers etc. Even HIV supposedly for which there is no cure-they have shown a decline (1.5 mn. in 2012 compared to 1.7 mn. in 2000). This shows that even without two key components in this area- immunization and antibiotics, it is the third- awareness and it has really worked. Added to it the anti-viral medications and the overall medical vigil towards the condition has really helped. Going by most accounts they say that an HIV vaccine may be around the corner but even without that its a job well done.
HCPs (Healthcare professionals) for me is a very very broad term and includes doctors, paramedics, researchers, support staff, people working for commercial organizations, NGOs, creating and running awareness campaigns or in short everyone that earns a living because of healthcare and is inclined towards giving people a healthy life- both curative and preventive and by that definition even your neighborhood yoga teacher is a healthcare professional and plays a very important role in community based preventive health. So after accomplishing what they set out out to do in the last century, HCPs have a plethora of options to work on today. And the good thing is that the bandwidth and progesses of modern science allow us today to look in to all directions. Due to cumulative learnings and technical acumen accumulated R&D timelines have come down and the success rates gone up. Now R&D can do both aspects that it is required to do and rather efficiently and with good success percentage- create breakthroughs that matter and also are commercially viable. We were able to figure out our entire genome code. Current research that has already been commercialized- like Non-Invasive prenatal tests that enable us know the kind of genetic or chromosome related abnormalities that a fetus might carry and parents may be able to decide if they really want the baby to be born, or the Gynaecologist or the fetal medicine expert may be able to give them the correct advice. With genetics and nanotechnology, targeted medicine for cancer therapy is a reality. We are making slow but sure progress.
HCPs (Healthcare professionals) for me is a very very broad term and includes doctors, paramedics, researchers, support staff, people working for commercial organizations, NGOs, creating and running awareness campaigns or in short everyone that earns a living because of healthcare and is inclined towards giving people a healthy life- both curative and preventive and by that definition even your neighborhood yoga teacher is a healthcare professional and plays a very important role in community based preventive health. So after accomplishing what they set out out to do in the last century, HCPs have a plethora of options to work on today. And the good thing is that the bandwidth and progesses of modern science allow us today to look in to all directions. Due to cumulative learnings and technical acumen accumulated R&D timelines have come down and the success rates gone up. Now R&D can do both aspects that it is required to do and rather efficiently and with good success percentage- create breakthroughs that matter and also are commercially viable. We were able to figure out our entire genome code. Current research that has already been commercialized- like Non-Invasive prenatal tests that enable us know the kind of genetic or chromosome related abnormalities that a fetus might carry and parents may be able to decide if they really want the baby to be born, or the Gynaecologist or the fetal medicine expert may be able to give them the correct advice. With genetics and nanotechnology, targeted medicine for cancer therapy is a reality. We are making slow but sure progress.
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