Technology in Public Health

With our first world country bias, we tend to view advancements in medical technologies through the lens of capital technology. We measure clinical advancement in 64-slice CT scanners, intraoperative imaging suites and innovative radiation therapy delivery platforms.

However, we tend to forget that for the vast majority of human beings - people without access to clean water and nutrition - medical innovation can come in more basic forms. Scientists at Proctor & Gamble, in collaboration with the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) have made amazing advancements in water purification technology. Though it emerged more than a year ago, the PUR water filtration technology is worth highlighting for its ingenuity and potential to improve access to clean water in developing countries. The size of a sugar packet, a PUR packet costs less than seven cents and can purify up to 10 liters of pathogen-laced water. Given that pathogen-acquired diarrhea is a leading worldwide killer of children under the age of five and that contaminated drinking water is a prime cause, any improvement in access to purified drinking water will dramatically reduce childhood mortality in the developing world.

It's easy to forget that, for the vast majority of this planet's inhabitants, access to basic needs is a necessary pre-requisite to improving public health. First, the clean water and reliable food source. Then, the 64-slice CT scanners.