Why Ensuring #Good_Health is a .Collective Responsibility
Attributed to Vishnu Kalra, Managing Director, GCC, Janssen, the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson
2020will go down in history as one of the most unprecedented years as a global health crisis shook the world and caused unimaginable loss and devastation. As the world heaved a collective sigh of relief and turned the page to welcome a new year, humanity has finally been given a glimmer of hope – a light at the end of the tunnel in the form of the vaccine rollouts that are already taking place around the world.
A key question for the countries of the world is how we can increase the resiliency of our healthcare systems to cope with similar potential crises in the future.
Clearly, as we have learnt from the pandemic, ensuring robust and efficient healthcare is not the responsibility of an individual or indeed, of any one organization or government. While the healthcare landscape today is already replete with challenges, the complexity intensifies when we consider that any innovative solutions we develop today will need to also encompass future unknown scenarios. Rather than merely treating patients symptomatically, the focus is shifting to sustaining well-being through equipping global populations to overcome future health challenges.
Healthcare is, undoubtedly, everyone’s business. Some of the crucial challenges the sector encounters as it continues to evolve are geographical barriers and rising costs. In addition, as mentioned, healthcare innovation has to deliver the best possible solutions for present and future patients.
So how do we get this done? How can we ensure universal and quality healthcare. Adopting a standards-based collaborative approach is a simple and viable way for governments to achieve this goal.
We live in a world where technology is already transforming healthcare – from discovering new treatments to managing efficient patient care. Based on the surging demand, personalized medicine is now a priority, with R & D efforts focused on producing minimal quantities of medication to target micro-populations, or people with specific genetic traits.
However, shaping such niche and customized solutions calls for a synergistic approach. Local and global, public and private sector expertise must join forces to create an efficient delivery mechanism for the end users. With emerging economies beginning to take a more protectionist stance in promoting local healthcare manufacturers, it is now up to multinational healthcare entities to lead the way in building strong partnerships through community engagement to contribute to better healthcare outcomes across the world.
The need of the hour is for a network of community health hubs, specialty care operators, virtual communities, and care-delivery mechanisms, as well as product developers that support one another to strengthen global health and well-being. With a clear, consumer-centric delivery of products, care, and well-being, these physical and virtual communities will find new ways of working and engaging with consumers and with one another, as they develop and deliver well-being services to effectively counter the emerging challenges in a post pandemic world.
At Janssen, the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, we take this collaborative approach to healthcare very seriously. The Middle East is among the fastest growing regions for the healthcare sector worldwide, and Saudi Arabia is the largest market in the region. To ensure sustainable healthcare outcomes for the country that is working relentlessly to realize the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030, Janssen, the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) with two distinguished technology companies in Saudi Arabia – SaudiVax, a leading biotechnology company and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a graduate research university in Saudi Arabia devoted to finding solutions to some of the world’s most pressing scientific and technological challenges.
Facilitated with the support of the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia (MISA), the two MoUs aim to establish pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities, build capacities, and share knowledge on biologics for research and development in the treatment of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) such as dengue fever in Saudi Arabia.
Such empowering partnerships have witnessed Saudi Arabia evolving from a curative medicine market to one that spearheads preventative healthcare delivered through best-in-class healthcare facilities and via leading medical professionals. Through effective public-private partnerships that engage the local community, ensure jobs for the local population, and incorporate superior quality care at value-for-money price points, everyone benefits – the governments, citizens and residents, public and social welfare organizations, and businesses across the board.
The future of healthcare is unfolding before our very eyes. Through a holistic model, the customers of tomorrow will have access to detailed information about their own health, while also benefiting from complete autonomy over the decisions concerning their physical and mental health and well-being. Only through an integrated and collaborative approach can we bring in greater accountability and future-focused thinking to ensure that health crises and the devastation they cause remain in the past.
