Making a healthier and safer world – Pandemics That Changed History & Information Technology to Solve Diseases, Accidents & Pollution
Doug Hohulin
To Save 1 Billion Lives with AI, Exponential Blueprint Consulting LLC, President/Founder, When the AI System Has to Be Right: Healthcare, AV, Policy, Energy. Co-Author of 2030: A Blueprint for Humanity's Exponential Leap
How will the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease (COVID-19) impact humanity. Here is an article that looks at past diseases.
Pandemics That Changed History - As human civilizations rose, these diseases struck them down. JAN 30, 2020
https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/pandemics-timeline
Through history humans were “at the Mercy of the 5 horsemen of the apocalypse: climate change, famine, state failure, migration and disease”
– Ian Morris “Why the West Rules--for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future,“
In the book, Dr. Morris measured Social Development through 15,000 years of History 4 traits: 1) energy capture, 2) organization/ urbanization, 3) war-making and 4) information technology. Practicing better health hygiene, relying on and supporting the dedicated health care worker community and using health information technology are key ways to making a healthier world now and in the future.
As highlighted by the Geopolitics of the Wuhan coronavirus video, TB is very dangerous.
Geopolitics of the Wuhan coronavirus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgRBK5BW8rM&t=285s
The danger from the #Wuhan coronavirus comes from public panic and government responses, not the #disease itself.
How will focusing on COVID-19 impact fight against TB and other diseases. Right now humanity is restricting travel. Will practicing better health hygiene help to minimize the spread of other diseases as well? Will fewer people be killed on the road accidents because we are limiting travel? In 2020, will we lower the amount of GHG generated because the world is focused on COVID-19? Our world economy may shrink due to COVID-19 and this will impact people’s ability to work. How will this impact the poor and their ability to make a living? How will this impact societies that are fragile already and do not have the resources to respond to negative economic growth?
While we all practice better health hygiene now and in the future and support health care workers focus on solving the immediate COVID-19 crisis and focus on helping people who are impacted by the virus, I think technologist can work to make a healthier world to minimize these tragedies both from contagious diseases and other deaths in the future. Technology can also help to minimize the impact of negative economic growth.
See the following for more information:
- A total of 1.5 million people died from TB in 2018 (including 251 000 people with HIV). Worldwide, TB is one of the top 10 causes of death and the leading cause from a single infectious agent (above HIV/AIDS).
- In 2018, an estimated 10 million people fell ill with tuberculosis(TB) worldwide. 5.7 million men, 3.2 million women and 1.1 million children. There were cases in all countries and age groups. But TB is curable and preventable.
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports
Making a healthier and safer world - the coronavirus & 1.35 million people die each year from road traffic crashes - 3,700 every day
https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/making-healthier-safer-world-135-million-people-die-doug-hohulin/
On Feb 7, 2020, The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Approximately 1.35 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes. That’s nearly 3,700 people dying on the world’s roads every day. - road traffic crashes are not “accidents”. They are completely preventable. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffic-injuries
Global status report on road safety 2018 https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2018/en/
In China, WHO estimated road traffic fatalities 256,180 in 2016 – 701 people per day
This WHO traffic deaths report is likely to get little attention. The world is focused on the coronavirus – as it should be. Each death from the coronavirus is a tragedy and without this focus, the death rate could go up. For example, the Flu Kills 646,000 People Worldwide Each Year. https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=208914 The world does not need a new infectious disease that can kill 100s of thousands of people. Prevention today is so important.
From coal to cars - what big data is China tracking to put virus-hit businesses back on track?