Giving global answers to global problems

2023-06-16 21:00:27

It sounds logical: giving global answers to global problems, but this is not necessarily so. The examples are many, but you only have to bring two to the table to realize this. An example is climate change, which affects the whole world, but not everyone has paid attention to this challenge. Another case is the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected us on five continents, but each country implemented its sanitary measures -even with the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), with the disastrous effects and millions of deaths that we all know.

Not now, but for several decades, the world is a “global village”, as Marshall McLuhan would say, which has become exponential with technology and, particularly, with the massive use of the Internet. The planet is interconnected, to be sure, but the provision of health care is not; in fact, it is now centralized in the hospital or medical clinic.

Such centralization happens despite the fact that the needs of patients have changed globally and now extend beyond the specific borders of each country. There is no clear and correct connection between health centers or between facilities and patients, even with the presence of digital tools. In many cases, hospitals are modern and well equipped, but there is no link between the patient, the hospital and the rest of the health care constituency.

“A World Undivided: A Quest for Better Healthcare Beyond Geopolitics”the new book by Joseph Saba, CEO of Axios International, proposes an unconventional solution to improve healthcare delivery.

Dr. Saba stated that “by globalizing the response to health threats, disasters can be avoided, such as those referred to at the beginning of this column. At the same time, it is necessary to address the changing needs of patients, in order to better cope with the increasing chronic diseases, which require long-term and sometimes lifelong treatment.

Thus, from Dr. Saba’s point of view, some actions must be taken, such as creating a health care system that supports patients throughout their treatment journey, in order to achieve better medical care, which it ranges from early diagnosis, through affordable treatment solutions and ongoing support for treatment adherence, both inside and outside of the hospital setting.

Giving a global response to global needs is a crystal clear postulate when comparing the global and unified response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s – which helped accelerate policies and solutions for patients – with the management chaotic crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, which was impractical and had significant economic and social consequences.

Likewise, there is a need to improve healthcare delivery by better connecting patients with healthcare services, thereby expanding the reach of the healthcare system beyond any one healthcare facility.

The need to unify care and treatment cannot be ignored, given that they are currently provided in a fragmented manner, leading to deficient or, at best, mediocre medical outcomes.

Through personal accounts gathered during his 40 years of experience in global health, Dr. Saba’s book tells the story of the beginning and evolution of access to medicines, as well as the birth of his company Axios.

In conclusion, he stated: “By connecting patients with a globalized and digitized health system, beyond any health care center, it is possible to achieve quality of care, reach and better management of the next threat to health. global health”.

Stethoscope

For some time, according to the influential newspaper The New York Times, some doctors are using artificial intelligence (AI), like that of the GPT Chat, to accomplish what is perhaps the most difficult task for physicians: finding compassionate ways to deliver bad news to their patients. How are you?

Jorge Arturo Castillo has a degree in Communication Sciences (CC) and a master’s degree in International Relations (RI) from the FCPyS of the UNAM. He is managing partner of Comunicación CM, from where he edits specialized media in the pharmaceutical, health, energy and technology industries. He has been a professor of journalism in the CC major, at UNAM, for more than 27 years. He is a content generator and has held various journalistic positions in the main media outlets in Mexico, as well as some international ones.