The future of health tech: 2020 AND BEYOND

Technology has done a complete revamp on the world we live in and one can’t help but marvel at what it has done for healthcare. Here, we look at where health tech is now – and where it’s going

- Yamkela Mdaka

THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) defines health technology as the “application of organised knowledge and skills in the form of medicines, medical devices, vaccines, procedures and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of life”. The development of these technologies has done a complete overhaul on the healthcare landscape as we’ve known it – and what we’ve seen is only the beginning. Everything is changing.

Firstly, let’s look at the little things we might take for granted that built the very foundation of what we call health tech. The establishment of electronic databases for hospitals and medical practices is a huge efficiency driver, slowly ridding medical establishments of their never-ending rows of physical folders. This hasn’t only improved efficiency for doctors, but patients can also have easy access to their health information and history.

Something else that has changed the game is the almost limitless access to medical material, whether on reputable health websites and publications or through social media. There has never before been a time when anyone could do a quick search online or hit up a specialist on Twitter to gain immediate information on a medical issue they were either experiencing or curious about.

Moving on from the basics, through health tech we've seen improved testing and imaging, reduced medical errors, improved access to healthcare and affordability, more specific and accurate diagnoses and treatment and improvement in speed (in surgery, getting results etc). Most importantly, health tech has improved the patient’s experience with much of the development centred on patient care, access, affordability and positive results.