Pharmageek
The recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic underscored the effectiveness and rapid deployment of digital public health interventions, notably the digital proximity tracing apps, leveraging Bluetooth capabilities to trace and notify users about potential infection exposures.
Digital proximity tracings showcased the promise of digital public health.
As the world pivots from pandemic responses, it becomes imperative to address noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) that account for a vast majority of health care expenses and premature disability-adjusted life years lost.
The narrative of digital transformation in the realm of NCD public health is distinct from infectious diseases.
The power of artificial intelligence (AI) in this digital transformation is noteworthy.
- AI can automate repetitive tasks, facilitating health care providers to prioritize personal interactions, especially those that cannot be digitalized like emotional support.
- Moreover, AI presents tools for individuals to be proactive in their health management. However, the human touch remains irreplaceable;
- AI serves as a companion guiding through the health care landscape.
Digital evolution, while revolutionary, poses its own set of challenges.
Issues of equity and access are at the forefront. Vulnerable populations, whether due to economic constraints, geographical barriers, or digital illiteracy, face the threat of being marginalized further.
This transformation mandates an inclusive strategy, focusing on not amplifying existing health disparities but eliminating them.
Population-level digital interventions in NCD prevention demand societal agreement.
Policies, like smoking bans or sugar taxes, though effective, might affect those not directly benefiting. Hence, all involved parties, from policy makers to the public, should have a balanced perspective on the advantages, risks, and expenses of these digital shifts.
For a successful digital shift in public health, especially concerning NCDs, AI’s potential to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, user experience, and equity—the “quadruple aim”—is undeniable.
However, it is vital that AI-driven initiatives in public health domains remain purposeful, offering improvements without compromising other objectives.
The broader success of digital public health hinges on transparent benchmarks and criteria, ensuring maximum benefits without sidelining minorities or vulnerable groups.
Especially in population-centric decisions, like resource allocation, AI’s ability to avoid bias is paramount.
Therefore, the continuous involvement of stakeholders, including patients and minority groups, remains pivotal in the progression of AI-integrated digital public health.
read the original paper at https://publichealth.jmir.org/2024/1/e49575/
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Most cardiovascular disease cases and deaths can be attributed to a small number of
common, modifiable risk factors. While some factors have extensive global effects
(eg, hypertension and education), others (eg, household air pollution and poor diet)
vary by a country's economic level. Health policies should focus on risk factors that
have the greatest effects on averting cardiovascular disease and death globally, with
additional emphasis on risk factors of greatest importance in specific groups of countries.
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Existe-t-il une recette pour vivre plus longtemps ? Dans une enquête fouillée, des chercheurs décryptent les mécanismes du vieillissement et explorent de nouvelles stratégies pour le freiner voire l’inverser.
Aujourd’hui, le vieillissement n'est plus considéré par les chercheurs comme un phénomène irréversible mais comme une maladie que l’on pourrait soigner. Pour y parvenir, les scientifiques explorent différentes pistes dans le but de réduire l’âge biologique qui, contrairement à l’âge chronologique, reflète l’état physiologique ou fonctionnel de l’individu. Administration d'un populaire médicament antidiabétique pour prévenir les pathologies liées à l'âge, destruction des cellules vieillissantes en les ciblant par un traitement pharmacologique, transfusion de sang d’un individu jeune sur un plus âgé, thérapie génique grâce à une reprogrammation rajeunissant les cellules… Autant d’innovations qui séduisent un nombre croissant de milliardaires de la Silicon Valley, toujours à l'affût d'investissements prometteurs. Mais, si ces techniques ne sont pas encore développées à grande échelle, l’activité physique et la pratique du jeûne, deux anti-âge parmi les plus efficaces selon les études, peuvent se pratiquer régulièrement et à moindre coût.
Bien vieillir
Faisant intervenir une dizaine de scientifiques et d’entrepreneurs internationaux, cette nouvelle enquête du prolifique duo de réalisateurs Sylvie Gilman et Thierry de Lestrade (Un monde obèse, Microbiote – Les fabuleux pouvoirs du ventre, Le jeûne, une nouvelle thérapie ?) dévoile l’avancement de recherches aux allures de science-fiction. Visuellement créatif et usant d'analogies pour faciliter la compréhension des mécanismes biologiques, le film éclaire sur un enjeu majeur de santé publique : bien vieillir en bonne santé.
Documentaire de Thierry de Lestrade et Sylvie Gilman (France, 2022, 56mn)
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