By Karl Hofmann, President and CEO, PSI
The following transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
2022 will continue to be dominated by COVID and resulting stresses and strains on healthcare system, everywhere. But alongside those challenges also come important opportunities—and let me talk to you about three of my predictions for hot trends in global health in 2022.
First, self-care practices.
The pandemic has really reinforced the importance of self-care as a tool to put more power and responsibility directly into the hands of health consumers. Self-testing, for one, will continue well beyond the current pandemic.
Second, digital innovation.
Certainly, we can think of things like telehealth and telemedicine, opportunities that health consumers might have used during the pandemic. But digital tools have also allowed us and others to better organize, train, mobilize and deploy dispersed healthcare human resources—like community health workers who have been the backbone of the response to the pandemic. Digital tools have also allowed healthcare systems to better allocate scarce resources among intensely competing needs.
And third, mixed health care systems.
The public sector has been on the frontlines in responding to the pandemic—setting standards, guidelines, mobilizing resources. But the private sector has also played an important role. And we think this dynamic is going to continue. I predict the development of truly mixed healthcare systems, where the public sector orchestrates, defines, sets standards, and the private sector brings its scale and its ability to provide quality healthcare delivery.
Self-care practices, digital innovation and mixed healthcare systems—these are going to continue to provide powerful new tools into the future. Happy 2022 to all; here’s to another year of innovation, inspiration and impact.
