The Precision Public Health Asia 2021 Conference (PPH Asia 2021) held on 7-9 April brought together academics, industry stakeholders, and technology and public health professionals to explore how genomics, big data and artificial intelligence can benefit public health in the developed and developing worlds.
“The potential to deploy technology and data-centric strategies brings immense opportunities in public health, from being able to improve priority setting in resource-poor countries to more targeted and effective methods in health promotion,” said Dean, Professor Teo Yik Ying.
“However, there are real challenges impeding the widespread uptake and deployment of such precision-based strategies, including the risk of widening social and inter-country inequities, as well as concerns around data confidentiality and ethics.”
Organised by the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, in partnership with the Government of Western Australia, Department of Health, PPH Asia 2021 provided an important platform to convene international experts in the field of public health and technology – ranging from practitioners to funders, government representatives to private sector innovators – to discuss and explore present and future strategies related to precision public health.
Precision public health aims to improve population health by providing the right health intervention to the right people at the right time. This emerging field involves the collection of more accurate individual- and population-level data on genes, environment, behaviour, and other social and economic determinants of health. These data could potentially enhance public health interventions aimed at improving health in sub-populations most in need of recommended prevention measures, as well as address and reduce health disparities.
Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, Director of Medical Services at the Singapore Ministry of Health, who graced the event as its Guest of Honour, said that the relevance of precision public health has never been greater.
“Today we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, confronted by a growing myriad of diseases and ailments that threaten to afflict populations in developing and developed countries alike. The use of precision public health allows us to collaborate further across countries, specialities and disciplines to share best practices, information and resources. This conference is one such opportunity for us to have more of these collaborative conversations,” said Assoc Prof Mak in his opening address.
PPH Asia 2021 was run as a hybrid event, comprising six virtual plenary sessions in the mornings and five in-person roundtable sessions in the afternoons.
More 2,000 people from 52 countries registered for the virtual sessions, with over 1,700 participants tuning in over the three days. The conference saw presentations by world-renowned public health and technology experts from across the globe and from both public and private sectors, including:
- Dr Harvey Fineberg, President, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation;
- Dr Margaret Chan, Founding Dean, Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University, and Former Director-General, World Health Organization;
- Dr Andrew Trister, Deputy Director, Digital Health and Innovation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation;
- Dr Taha Kass-Hout, Director of Machine Learning and Chief Medical Officer, Amazon Web Services (AWS);
- Dr Este Geraghty, Chief Medical Officer and Health Solutions Director, Esri; and
- Professor Benjamin Howden, Director of the Microbiological Diagnostic Unit Public Health Laboratory and Medical Director of Doherty Applied Microbial Genomics, Doherty Institute.
The opening plenary session, ‘The Future is Already Here’, addressed issues pertaining to precision public health and measures to improve it. Dr Margaret Chan, who is also an alumna of the School (Class of ’85, MSc Public Health and Occupational Medicine), highlighted the opportunities presented by the global megatrend of new technologies to guide the betterment of global public health. She also reminded the audience not to stray from the core public health tenets of sustainability, effectiveness and equity. While precision public health is at a nascent stage, Dr Chan said it still has the power and potential to improve health and achieve social justice.
The other panel discussions addressed the advancement of precision public health in low- and middle-income countries, technologies to optimise health outcomes, nudges for positive behavioural changes, and the use of data and precision technologies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was enlightening to hear how international NGOs such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are actively bringing life-saving innovations to resource-poor communities in different parts of the world, and at the same time, life insurers are utilising the opportunities provided by technology to proactively reach out to policymakers to improve health instead of reactively providing financial protection,” said Prof Teo.
The afternoon roundtable sessions saw a total of 54 participants across five sessions. Policymakers and industry experts came together for open and honest discourse exploring how the different industries and sectors can adopt and further precision public health collectively. The discussions surrounded the topics of technology and public health, regulation, economics, genetics and precision public health, and opportunities for innovators.
At the end of the virtual conference, in his closing address, Associate Professor Jeremy Lim, Director of the Leadership Institute for Global Health Transformation (LIGHT) at the School, and Chair of the PPH Asia 2021 Local Organising Committee, announced the founding of the Precision Public Health Asia Society (P-PHAS).
The objectives of P-PHAS are to promote awareness and advancement of precision public health, support capacity building in precision public health and related fields of knowledge, and provide a platform for public health practitioners, policymakers, academics and students to share experience and expertise in the field of precision public health. Overall, the Society seeks to facilitate the sustainable and equitable rollout of technology and data to improve the practice of public health.
Assoc Prof Lim said, “We are delighted at the success of PPH Asia 2021. The feedback has been very positive and, more importantly, many individuals and institutions post-conference have stepped forward to partner to advance precision public health in Asia. There is a long road ahead, and the conference is a small but important early step forward. We have huge ambitions for the Society to be a force for good and catalyse precision public health in Asia through capacity building, convening and thought leadership.”
More details about P-PHAS will be available at pphasia.com soon.
The School would like to convey its heartfelt gratitude to all who made this conference a success. Thank you to the speakers for carving time out of your busy schedules to share your insights through the presentations and engaging panel discussions. Thank you to all sponsors for your generous support: Illumina, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Sysmex, Health Catalyst, Amazon Web Services, and AIA Group Limited. Thank you to the supporting organisations and media partners as well. Finally, thank you to everyone who participated in the conference either virtually or in-person. We look forward to you joining us for the next event.
View more photos on Facebook. Session recordings will be made available on YouTube soon.
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This event was also covered by NUS News on 12 April.