Juggling Healthcare & Climate Change
There are reports of major transformation in healthcare with regard to adoption of cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare in the near future. However, a lack of assured power supply, the most essential factor in healthcare, is also a reality. A large proportion of the healthcare sector in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa is powered by diesel or petrol generators in the absence of continuous electricity supply. Added to that is the relation between climate change and healthcare.
A report released at COP28 in December 2023, points out that nearly 1 billion people in the world are served by healthcare facilities without reliable electricity access or without any electricity access. This is the ground reality when electric supply for various healthcare and diagnostics related gadgets is crucial. The report ‘Climate Finance for Powering Healthcare’ by ‘Sustainable Energy for All’ and ‘Oxford Policy Management’ examines how climate finance for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions can help provide power for healthcare facilities with renewable energy. It estimates that if all energy deficient facilities were to adopt clean energy solutions it would result in annual cost savings of $173-263 million and 0.68-0.98 MT Carbon Dioxide in the areas.
Just a month after that Bain and Company’s annual Global Healthcare Private Equity and M&A report was released. It said that Asia Pacific’s share of global healthcare private equity deals continued to rise from 26 per cent in 2022 to a projected 34 per cent in 2023. Though in actual terms, it declined from $17.1 billion in 2022 to $14.2 billion in 2023, it increased compared to other regions, indicating exactly the opposite picture where lots of funds are available for development of the healthcare sector.
In Asia, most of the investment is happening or will happen in the near future in very modern AI supportive gadgets. By 2027, 60 per cent of Asia Pacific healthcare organisatons are expected to double their investments in Generative AI (GenAI). International Data Corporation in its Asia Pacific report said GenAI is emerging as a transformative force in healthcare.
In case of diagnostics, APAC is expected to see a 60 per cent increase in AI adoption by 2026 for better diagnostic accuracy, speed and workflow efficiency. Regarding AI care, the 50 per cent healthcare industry in APAC will leverage GenAI by 2027. GenAI technology is expected to free up 10 per cent of clinicians’ time leading to an estimated $100 billion saving in annual healthcare in APAC by 2025. In all, 40 per cent healthcare organisations will adopt industry clouds by 2025.
With all this comes the focus on data security, as per the IDA report. Among the several reasons for this spurt in use of advanced technology, demand to scale hyperpersonalised patient experiences and for home caregiving are prominent. Hospital at home (HaH) patients will double by 2026, resulting in 55 per cent growth in investments for tech-enabled integrated care services.
While the healthcare scene is expected to change in APAC, climate change is another aspect to be factored-in. Singapore-based Duke-NUS Medical School has set up SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute (SDGHI). One of the areas it is focusing on is planetary health. It's based on the concept that the health of both people and the planet can be taken care of in an integrated way. The institute has appointed the key advocate of this concept to set up a new Asia-wide network focused on advancing collaboration on healthcare research and advocacy. Asia is the right place to start such an initiative since it is the heart of many planetary health crises.
While all the tech related efforts are ongoing for better healthcare services in Asia Pacific region and to think about climate change and healthcare in an integrated manner, inadequate power supply for over one billion people, including Asia, also needs to be addressed on a war footing.