Looking back and ahead: Thoughts at the beginning of 2011

As I look back on 2010, one of the things I’ve seen has been the remarkable increased use of social media in public health settings. Whether Twitter, Facebook, FLICKR, blogging, or some other application the innovative application of these technologies has been quite exciting.

Every morning I spend time on my iPAD reviewing materials from a variety of sources. I do this on an RSS aggregator called Early Edition by Glasshouse Apps. As I review each source and its contents I am able to forward links to colleagues in a variety of settings who I think might enjoy the content or may find it useful in some way. With each passing day I am sending more of these links to more people and thought there must be a new and more efficient way to do this.
My first effort to modify how I did this was to forward the links to Twitter @rsgold so they would be available to anyone. But it seemed even more realistic to share if I took advantage of blogging technology. So, here we are. This is my first post to "Looking at Public Health Today" and I'm excited. I hope I'll be able to share with you some interesting finds. I'm not sure I'll do this every day or even every week, but I do want to share as much as I can - and hope that anyone who follows this blog will contribute other sources of information, data, papers, technology, and other resources that we should all see.

To that end, I regularly read Blog 4 Global Health sponsored by the Global Health Council’s Policy, Research and Advocacy team. Recently, their blog entry included their view of the “Top 10 in 2010 Global Health Communication.” I highly recommend your taking a look at this blog entry if you have an interest in global health.

Also related to global health – the Kaiser Family Foundation released a policy brief analysis on key issues related to the Obama Administration’s Global Health Initiative. This is an excellent primer in short form that identifies the principal components of this initiative. The full policy brief is available from the Kaiser Family Foundation here – U.S. Global Health Policy.

There are several important new publications that I’d like to highlight today that I think offer public health and other related practitioners a critical new set of ideas to add to our thinking. The first was a report released by CDC’s Leading Edge Forum entitled The Future of Healthcare: It's Health, Then Care. CSC is on of the largest providers of information services in the world, but this report identifies five key trends that will influence the future of healthcare – and each is enabled by newly emerging technologies. The five include:

1. E-Power to the patient, driven largely by Smartphone technology and powered by internet accessible applications;
2. Earlier detection made possible by inexpensive supporting technologies that allow for faster, less costly diagnosis;
3. High-tech healing driven by advances in bioengineering allowing for implantable and wearable treatment systems;
4. New resource mixes produced by remote sensing, social networking, and other technologies that influence patient behavior and remote monitoring;
5. The emergence of a global healthcare ecosystem based on sound data.

I’d like to close today’s entry with information about a meeting held on January 10, 2011 by the Center for Strategic & International Studies. The meeting was entitled: “Is the Era of Big Funding for Global Health Over?” Christian Baeza, World Bank Director for Health, Nutrition, and Population lead the discussion on future global health efforts likely over the next decade with particular attention to major challenges, the economic case for investment, and how to build sustainability into our thinking related to global health.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all a Happy New Year. All the best.

Bob