Transcriber: Jacobo Hijazin Reviewer: Moe Zaw Oo
I have always been inspired by new technologies.
That's why I decided to start my professional career in Singapore,
the innovation center of the Eastern Hemisphere. In my work,
I’ve been meeting and supporting to companies developing solutions
for various industries all around Asia. But COVID 19 has changed it on.
The global lockdown has caused an economic downturn in most countries.
As a result, massive resources are being spent by the governments and public and
private institutions in search of remedies for the challenges brought by the pandemic
So what is the right way of fighting pandemics?
How can technology help? Are there any other critical factors?
Before we answer those questions? First, let us better understand the enemy.
Pandemics are not characteristic just for the present times.
They have occurred before.
However, the rapid increase in the pace of civilization development,
as well as demographic burst and social trends,
have led to an increased probability of the outbreaks in the 21st century.
Let’s look into those factors in a detail.
The rapid growth in the human population fueled by the rapid growth in
the animal husbandry.
In 2009, we faced swine flu pandemic.
Although swine flu virus was known almost 100 years ago,
it had posed no threat to humans back then.
It was not until 2009 that the mutation of traditional and swine flu
resulted in the lethal combination.
The number of deaths is estimated between 150
and 575 thousand.
Swine flu reached that size due to the rapid growth in the animal husbandry,
mixed with heavy industrialization
and increased density of agriculture production.
Second, changes in global travel.
People, animals, goats are moving around the planet in greater numbers
and much faster than ever before.
In 2019, more than four billion passengers were carried by planes anually,
which is twice as much as a decade ago.
This, in turn, leads to the rapid spread of viruses,
and this is the way SARS-CoV-2 spreads from Chinese Wuhan and currently
is affecting more than 200 countries and territories around the globe.
Third, jungle and forest reaction.
The human civilization expands into the last wild spaces on our planet,
burning and blowing the Amazon rainforest to have people land to farm.
Humans interact with wildlife populations on ascale
that has never happened before.
Those wildlife populations have new kinds of bacteria and viruses.
For instance, the Ebola epidemic in years 2013-2016 was transmitted by animals
such as bats.
To evoke the Ebola virus is characterized by
a very high mortality rate an easy spread.
Until the end of 2015,
almost 30000 people were infected and over 11000 died.
For global climate change,
the warming climate makes the water more hospitable to viruses and bacteria.
Many tropical diseases spread into the areas farther from the equator.
Not only is the climate more favourable to them,
but it also benefits from the fact that winters are much warmer
and do not kill insects.
Good example can be mosquitoes that transmit many diseases like Zika.
In early 2015, there was
a widespread epidemic called Zika fever that started in Brazil
and later spread to other parts of South America, North America,
the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia.
Altogether, there were one hundred seventy five thousand cases worldwide.
In a 2015 TED Talk, Bill Gates asserted.
If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades,
it's most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war.
Not missiles, but microbes.
But he’s not the only one who spoke of this threat.
10 years earlier, Larry Brilliant, American epidemiologist, book author,
long term associate of World Health Organization,
had been warning about the spread in his TED Talk: Help me stop pandemics.
Pandemics have accompanied people for centuries,
but the probability that they will appear in the future is much higher due to
the changes driving today's war.
All of them are going to continue at the same time,
increasing the risk of the next outbreak.
So what should we do to defend from different?
COVID 19 started last December in Chinese Wuhan,
causing disorientation on a massive scale.
But there was one country very close to China that was better prepared than
the others from the very beginning.
The reason was that this country experienced disaster epidemic in 2003,
when they reported hundreds of cases.
More than 150000 people were quarantined for three months.
Since then, they had been preparing for years to be ready for
the next potential pandemic.
So when coronavirus was first diagnosed in Chinese Wuhan,
a group of national epidemiologists will send there to conduct their own research.
Also, all their cities, as coming from China, were picked up from the airport.
separate thing we’ve secured and disinfected cars taken into hospitals,
diagnosed very carefully and later sent for two weeks quarantine.
Also to provide the early and fast detection,
special testing centers are available for everybody.
At the entrance to every building,
It's obligatory to measure the temperature and to wear masks.
What’s the result?
Do you know? They have reported 500 cases
with only seven deaths in the population of 23 million people.
This country is Taiwan, very close to the place of the outbreak,
but fighting with the pandemic much better than any other developed country.
For comparison, let’s take Switzerland commonly associated with
technologically advanced health system.
Today, more than fifty five thousand people are infected,
almost 2000 deaths in the population of 8.5 million people,
which is almost three times lower than the population of Taiwan.
And the number of cases per capita is 300 times higher,
as well as the number of deaths per capita 700 times higher in Switzerland
than in Taiwan.
The plan prepared by Taiwanese government was important,
but a key to success was social responsibility,
which united citizens in the fight against different social responsibility
is definitely a key factor. But it's not enough.
The modern world is much more complex,
driven by trends such as demographic explosion and globalization.
The complexity of the world forces us to look for comprehensive solutions,
and that’s why technology is so important
in addressing today’s challenges.
Let's take a look at some examples.
How does the transport of blood samples, test kits and supplies look like.
They are transported by people between hospitals and laboratories.
But what if we could do it without involving people
and putting them at risk? So let’s take
a look at this innovative technology that has been tested in Singapore.
The landing site for drones have been created
on the roofs of hospitals to transport all the equipment.
Thus, the interpersonal contact is reduced and the speed of transport is increased.
How does the medical care in hospitals look like?
The patients are looked after by doctors
and nurses who are constantly exposed to threat.
But what if there was medical device that can provide video conferences,
deliver food, and feed and measured temperature?
Such solutions are already being tested all over the world?
Sometime ago, I met a friend that suffered from
a stroke that he had in March.
When a pandemic came, he was unable to receive proper care for months.
Today, there are very low chances that he will ever fully recover
because of that. But what if there was digital physical therapy that,
thanks to the wearable sensors and applications,
will enable patients to conduct exercises and their remote monitoring for doctors
and therapists anywhere and any time?
There are already some entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia working on it.
I presented only free solutions,
but there are thousands of innovative technologies addressing
the problems brought by the pandemic.
But even the best technology will not work without social responsibility
as well as social responsibility is not enough without appropriate tools.
So the best way is to combine them both.
Do you know? This pandemic has killed over one million people,
which represents half of the population of Warsaw. What is the next virus?
It’s more lethal and spreads faster?
From this presentation, I would like you to remember that the probability of
the next pandemic is much higher due to the changes driving today's ward.
But the combination of technology
and social responsibility can help us fight the current
and potential future pandemics.
Thank you.