Medical revolution: here are the advances and risks in our global health future

The first global threat to health in decades, the Covid-19 pandemic, put health issues back at the top of people's concerns but few people have looked at the big advancements and risks awaiting us in the future.

While the virus served as a reminder that serious epidemics can still occur, the speed with which vaccines were developed revealed the extraordinary advances in medicine has made in recent decades.

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But Covid vaccines were just the vanguard of major upheavals in the medical world that are set to change our health futures. Here's what you can look forward to over the next several decades.

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Immunotherapy, gene therapy, personalized medicine, robot-assisted surgery... the coming period will be marked by dizzying progress in the medical field, including therapeutics for diseases that were once thought to be difficult, if not impossible, to cure.

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"We have entered an unprecedented era, marked by an impressive acceleration of therapeutic innovations", according to Thomas Borel, director of scientific affairs for Pharmaceutical Companies (Leem) as quoted by 'Top Health'.

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Thanks to advances in research on the human genome, the medicine of the future will be personalized and adapted to the needs of each individual patient. that means pathologies can be anticipated more quickly and then adapted to as they affect your body.

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According to Jacques Volckmann, research and development manager at Sanofi France, also quoted by 'Top Santé': “Drugs will be more targeted, and therefore more effective, with fewer side effects."

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Cancer treatment will soon be revolutionized by immunotherapies, the goal of which is to re-educate the immune system so that they eliminate cancer cells in your body rather than other harmful treatments like chemotherapy.

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According to Steven Le Gouill, director of the Hospital Complex of the Institut Curie, as quoted by 'Top Santé', immunotherapies will make it possible “to adapt treatment continuously, according to the patient."

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Le Gouill explained that immunotherapies for patients will be much like a GPS is for a car. They will allow doctors to get there patients to their destinations in the best possible condition while allowing them to change course along the way if needed to best suit their needs.

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Cell therapies are another promising way to cure cancer. This innovative technology will turn your cells into the drugs your body needs to eliminate tumor cells after they've been modified and reinjected into your body.

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In addition, robot-assisted surgery will grow in scale and become less invasive for patients.

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Finally, the appearance of new treatments against diseases such as HIV or hepatitis C is expected in the decades to come.

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Experts remain cautious about the total eradication of the most common diseases. Nevertheless, advances in prevention, diagnostics, and therapies should reinforce the success of treatments at an earlier stage and make some diseases less dangerous.

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But everything will not be better in the future. New technology and other factors will also bring about new risks, one's that will need to be addressed as we move into a new world of medical treatments.

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First, the cost of some advanced treatments is likely to be very high. An increase in inequalities in access to care should therefore be feared throughout the world as those who have the means will get treatments others can't afford.

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In addition, global warming will have an increased health impact in the coming years. According to the World Health Organization, it is predicted that climate change could claim the lives of 250,000 people a year by 2030.

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Another environmental factor likely to have an impact on health is pollution. The continued presence of pollutants and microorganisms in our air, water, and food will promote cancer and other conditions such as Parkinson's disease.

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Physical inactivity, reinforced by telework and the place screens occupy in our lives, is another factor we should worry about because it will lead to the development of common diseases, such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases.

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Finally, the global aging of the population, particularly in Western countries, will increase the incidence of age-related diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders, or Alzheimer's disease, a condition for which there is still no effective treatment.

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What about mental health? Some experts quoted by 'Slate' believe that the acceleration of the pace of our lives coupled with our current levels of technological progress will be a breeding ground for depression and various attention disorders.

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We can look forward to new medical techniques in the future but should also worry about the new risks we'll face. The coming decades promise to be exciting in the field of medicine and health!

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