Preventive healthcare solutions: Importance and need in developing nations

The term preventive healthcare remains self-explanatory as it pertains to a form of medical care involving measures undertaken to prevent the occurrence of diseases rather than treating them. This includes advice on routine check-up for an individual even if he or she is rather healthy considering that lifestyle diseases are asymptomatic in nature. It remains an important determinant of a healthy life. The healthcare industry has put the spotlight on the importance of preventive care for quite a while now. It may be noted that it’s far easier and certainly less burden in terms of cost to provide patients with the care they need on a routine basis to maintain good health and to prevent illnesses, injuries and diseases from occurring in the future.

In the Indian context, the government has undertaken numerous initiatives over the years. These include Health for All and The National Health Assurance Mission to ease the burden of chronic diseases. Through these numerous initiatives, the healthcare modalities pivot towards the prevention, screening, early intervention and new treatment platforms for patients. It thus results in the facilitation of better patient outcomes.

Preventive healthcare is known to have several benefits, including reduced spending for payers, besides increased lifespan as it allows to catch things early and treat them much easier. In addition, productivity and efficiency at work can be maintained. Further, preventive healthcare leads to better chronic disease management and reduces mortality. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 50% of the global burden of disease is a chronic illness. Considering that chronic diseases are long-lasting illnesses, which can have a compounding and sustained effect on the social, physical, psychological and economic levels of the individual and society at large. Stopping the onset of illness remains crucial for healthcare transformation and sustainability.

In a country like India, there remain a few challenges, though. Primarily being the tremendous population growth, which burdens the overall healthcare system and this includes preventive care as well. The doctor-to-patient ratio remains abysmally low, which is merely 0.7 doctors per 1,000 people. This compared to the WHO average of 2.5 doctors per 1,000 people. Improving this situation continues to remain a long-term process.

At the onset, to achieve preventive healthcare, there is a need to start from the core idea.

Prevention is better than cure

Ideally, preventive healthcare starts with a change in the way we approach our health and our healthcare ecosystem. One can also achieve preventive healthcare by using data-driven informed decisions. In this regard, longitudinal clinical data for patients is critical for the preventive healthcare ecosystem. There is also a need to promote better education and awareness initiatives to ensure building a robust preventive healthcare system.

The healthcare ecosystem in India also needs to have a framework of preventive caregiving using clinical knowledge. It should also have access to clinical data and usage of new-age clinical tools to enable predictability using AI-ML and NLP. This will help alert the patient-caregiver and the entire health ecosystem about the probable adverse event. At the same time, using digital healthcare solutions and connecting them to a larger population and building population health can prove to be a game-changer for this cause. There is a need to promote collaboration and research initiatives for a preventive healthcare system to flourish organically.

The use of healthtech devices and connecting data from these smart devices to the mainstream ecosystem will subsequently help to increase focus on patient-centric healthcare delivery. For a country like India, the healthcare industry is at a crossroads. Thus, there remains considerable scope for improvement and growth. In the end, it all boils down to the idea and will to use digital healthcare technology, which can also propel preventive healthcare frameworks.

(The author of this article, Ms Ashvini Danigond, Executive Director & CEO, Manorama Infosolutions Pvt Ltd (MIPL))