In Part 1 of this writeup we had talked about how the Sustainable Development Goal 3 aims to address the various health challenges and how the Emerging Technologies can be leveraged for achieving those objectives. Those objectives of SDG3 are:

#1 Reducing maternal mortality and ensuring access to quality maternal and reproductive healthcare services.

#2 Ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years old, with a focus on tackling major diseases, malnutrition, and providing vaccinations.

#3 Combating major communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis, as well as non-communicable diseases like cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

#4 Ensuring universal access to healthcare services, including access to essential medicines and vaccines, and strengthening health systems.

#5 Addressing substance abuse, promoting mental health, and providing access to affordable and quality healthcare services for all.

We had discussed about the role of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics, Telemedicine and Telehealth, and Electronic Health Records. In this part we shall discuss about other technologies.

Internet of Medical Things IoMT: Wearable devices, such as smartwatches or patches, can monitor vital signs, fetal heart rate, and uterine contractions. These devices enable healthcare providers to remotely track the health status of pregnant women, identify potential complications early on, and provide timely interventions. (#1)

Telemedicine platforms and remote monitoring devices can facilitate remote consultations and monitoring of children’s health. Parents or caregivers can share vital signs, and report any concerning symptoms to the healthcare providers. This can help in the management of chronic conditions, timely response to emergencies, and continuous monitoring of children’s growth and development. (#2).

Wearable devices, such as smartwatches and fitness trackers, can collect realtime health data, monitor vital signs, and track disease progression. These devices enable remote monitoring of patients with chronic conditions, allowing healthcare providers to intervene early in case of complications and optimize treatment plans. They can also promote preventive behaviors and encourage individuals to adopt healthier lifestyles.(#3)

Wearable devices with biosensors, can monitor physiological and behavioral indicators associated with mental health and substance abuse. These devices can detect changes in heart rate, sleep patterns, physical activity, and stress levels. Digital biomarkers derived from these data can aid in early detection, personalized interventions, and tracking treatment progress. These can also be used for pain control, Smart belt for protection of elderly people against falls, Ingestible sensors for prevention of drug abuse (#5)

Extended Reality: Extended Reality (ER) which includes Virtual reality (VR) and Augmented reality (AR), can be used to create immersive and interactive educational experiences for both healthcare providers and pregnant women. These technologies can simulate medical procedures, childbirth scenarios, and complications, allowing for better training and increased awareness about maternal health. (#1)

ER can enhance health workforce training and capacity building. These can provide realistic training scenarios, allowing healthcare professionals to practice procedures, clinical decision-making, and emergency responses. This technology reduces the need for physical resources and can reach a broader audience, improving the skills of healthcare providers globally.(#4)

Post trauma stress management, Parkinson’s management, patient phobia management, rehabilitation process, special surgeries, robotic surgeries, precision biopsies, healthcare training, smart medical education can be effectively undertaken using Extended Reality.

Drones: Drones can be used to transport essential medical supplies, such as blood products, medications, vaccines and emergency equipment like defibrillators in remote and inaccessible areas, thus overcoming geographical barriers, and ensure timely access to life-saving interventions for pregnant women, children or other patients in need of the same. Drones can also help transport critical patients from remote and inaccessible areas.

Quantum Computing: Quantum computing aids speeding up of machine learning process, help create antidotes for disease like Alzheimer’s and cancer, besides drug development, silico clinical trials, speeding up DNA sequencing and analysis.

Blockchain: Patient Data storage and protection, clinical trials, analysis of medical procedures, supply chain management and drug traceability can be ensured using Blockchain. Besides, it would help in improving transparency, traceability, and accountability in the distribution process, reducing inefficiencies, stockouts, and identification of counterfeit products.

3D Printing: Prosthetics, dentistry, porous bone structures, bioprinting of bio parts including cartilages can be enabled leveraging 3D printing. This could be a big boon in the developing countries with a lot of citizens with physical challenges.

Digital Twins: Digital twins help evaluate surgery risk assessment, patient monitoring, development in drug therapy model.
(To be continued)

[This article has been first published in Communications Today in June 2023 as
Healthcare 2.0: Unlocking Opportunities with Emerging Technologies]