Does Technology Hold the Key to Improved Life Expectancy?

Does engineering Hold the Key to Improved Life Expectancy?Andrew McMahon StoneIntroduction. Life apprehension is the norm period a somebody may expect to live1. Almost universally, females live longest, as do MEDC dwellers. Globally, purport forecast has increased by 40% in the last 50 age (1960s 50 eld present 70 years). However, this is just an average so in that location volition be extremes, for example, the oldest recorded person alive now is almost 116 years6 and there atomic number 18 babies that die within days of birth. engine room means developing, applying or studying tools and methods, gum olibanum, in context the machinery employ in hospitals rag to knowledge for educational health and the development and use of medicines.In my family, manner history prediction has stayed constant as my great grandparents lived into their eighties, two of my grandparents are still alive (aged 80), although one died at 48 years*. However I think that my brformer(a), my cou sins and I bequeath survive for longer, given that my ancestors died from rare, non-genetic causes like crabby person and brain haemorrhage. *My great grandfather was in the Great War and was shell shocked and spent the rest of his life in a mental hospital.CausesI believe that the main cause of make betterd life antepast is the rate of the agriculturals technological growth but there are other factors, some natural, some human (Table 1)Table 1 factors affecting life expectancyThere exists a correlation between population size and range and life expectancy, especially if we look at extremes, for example Monaco is the smallest country in the world, by area and almost population, and it has the highest life expectancy rate of 85 years for males and 93 years for females2. Similarly, China has the tremendousgest population and has one of the biggest areas in the world yet it is in the top 100 for life expectancy and is rising with its population2. This office suggest that it is easier to provide access to smaller and larger concentrations of slew, but then in the UK, we know that many rural dwellers often birth to travel in excess of 40 miles to reach a hospital. This could prove fatal in terms of an emergency if flock cant be reached in time, thus this is where telecommunications technology and network accessible health education (what to do if a person has a heart attack or stroke) are vital. I am very fortunate to live in an urban area and I drop two hospitals within 15minutes drive of my home.Lifestyle alternatives affect the life expectancy of a person because someone skill choose to eat healthily and exercise regularly and so, in theory, pretend a higher life expectancy than someone who chooses not to. This is a social factor, controlled by personal decisions, but it is mostly an MEDC issue. In LEDCs slew often have little/no choice round their lifestyle as they may be limited by food/water supplies. Access to educational information via n et income technology may serve people make informed choices and improve life expectancies but if disregarded, then access to technology is of no benefit.Hereditary conditions like cystic fibrosis (the UKs most common life threatening inherited disease7) can affect the life expectancy of a person as the average life expectancy for a person with CF is 37 years. There are70,000 sufferers worldwide)8 . Hereditary conditions affect people in both MEDCs and LEDCs although technologies in MEDCs are helping treat people with CF, so their life expectancy is slowly improving. The cost of such technologies is often prohibitive in LEDCs.Personal income is also a distinguish determining frugal factor. Those with more disposable income will have more opportunity to access health technology and more easily afford healthier food choices, which should proceeds in improved life expectancy. However, it can result in poor lifestyle choices like over-eating or binge drinking so can have the opposite effect. This is unfortunately common in MEDCs, particularly the UK and USA, exacerbated by supersize me in food outlets and BOGOF offers in supermarkets.War and conflict can be a big contributing factor to lowering life expectancy, with technology contributing in a negative way. Weapons have been developed that can kill more people more easily. Armed forces are mostly composed of men, which help explain why in some countries, they have a lower life expectancy than females. In Cambodia the life expectancy rate went down for men from 43 years in 1966 to 31 years in 1977 and for women from 46 years in 1966 to 34 years in 197714. This was because of a mass genocide by the Khmer Rouge regime15 that killed between one and two million people.In Telford, where I live, the life expectancy for males is 77.4 years which is 1.5 years less than the England average of 78.9 years. And the Telford life expectancy for females is 82 years which is 0.9 years less than the England average of 82.9 year s. 9Technology its impacts on life expectancyThe true effects of technology on life expectancy depends on how you define technologyIf you define technology as the access to information via the internet I would have thought that the worlds life expectancy would have reacted positively to the exponential growth of internet users in the last 20 years in figure 2. Figure 1 does show that the worlds life expectancy has increased in incline but only very slightly steeper to the rate of growth before the early 90s.Figure 110 changes in life expectancy orbiculateFigure 2 internet users globally (in red)11This implies either that there are still countries that dont have a lot of internet users or that the amount of internet users does not directly affect the worlds life expectancy. I believe there is a affiliation. To prove this, 96% of Icelands population13 are internet users and the average life expectancy is 81.28 years13, which puts it 6th in the world. Conversely, 0.8% of Eritreas population are internet users, the lowest in the world, and its average life expectancy is 61.42 years which is nearly 10 years below the worlds average. Nationally, in the UK, 87% of us are internet users and our average life expectancy is 80.05 years3, although I appreciate that the link between the two isnt exclusive. At a personal level I have looked up symptoms to determine what illness I have and also researched how to improve my fitness which I believe will affect my life expectancy.Mobile phone technology enables people to access information about healthy lifestyles. I have a smart phone which can help me access information on any issue I mightiness have with my health so that I can try to combat it. Nationally (UK), there is 97% coverage of the country, which enables almost everyone with an internet enabled phone or broadband connection to access. OAPs are encouraged to gain internet skills via free classes available at local libraries.Another factor contributing to impro ved life expectancy could be the amount of investment into research and development. Israel put the biggest percentage of their GDP into research and development, 4.2%, and their average life expectancy is 80.96 years which makes them 17th in the world. However Ethiopia only put 0.1 billion dollars into research and development which is only 0.17% of their GDP and I believe that this is a reason why their average life expectancy is 55.41 years, 14 years below the worlds average. In my country, the UK, 1.7% of the GDP is spent on research and development which is equivalent to 38.4 billion dollars5. With that money, university graduates have invented and designed technology to improve life expectancy like the portable defibrillator and the discovery of the hepatitis B vaccine 16. Non-profit organizations have also achieved similar eg a spray that breaks after the first use to stop the spread of diseases like HIV. At a personal level my life expectancy has been enhanced by vaccines a nd medicines eg Hepatitis B immunisation as a child and the annual influenza vaccine.Continually evolving technology is bringing new developments into existence like 3D printers that can bio-print circumstantial organs to replace failing ones although only a bladder has been printed so far. Personally all of my family have had scans sometime in their lives to diagnose specific illnesses or injuries that, if they and not been diagnosed, might have caused a lower life expectancy, eg bowel cancer screening and breast cancer screening.Technology cannot work without trained professionalsTechnology can only hold the key to improved life expectancy if it is properly managed. Trained professionals are needed to operate scanners in hospitals and governments in LEDCs might not be able to afford them or to provide the training to get them and so technology would be irrelevant and ineffectual. Technology is also powerless in places where infrastructure is either poor or non-existent e.g. ele ctricity and internet access.ScenariosOne of the biggest factors that affect life expectancy in LEDCs is maternal and infant health. motherly and infant mortality rates are higher in LEDCs, further contributing to lower average life expectancies. If we can ensure safer births, we can improve life expectancy and the need to have so many children. This is where technology could come into play to assist midwives in challenging situations. Even without access to electricity and internet, updated written literature and health/hygiene guidance could be provided to help the situation. You could argue that this isnt technology, but actually you need technology to design, print and progress the books. And with the relatively new invention of the 3D printer, organizations could make models for midwifery that teach them in a practical way.If everyone in the world had access to technology I do think that globally life expectancy would increase significantly simply because of the sheer wealth of information available on the internet and people being able to gain health education. But the likelihood of everyone having access to technology in the future is low. For some, eg indigenous tribes and small groups isolated from modern civilization, there is a desire to remain untouched by external influences. Charities and wealthier governments could continue to send appropriate technology to LEDCs. I also believe that technology will develop further in the future and will eventually be able to help eradicate diseases and cancers.ConclusionI think that technology is key to improved life expectancy and I think in the future it will become the biggest influential factor. This is because other factors, I believe, will be controlled by technology. People will be able to make informed decisions regarding lifestyle choices and risks of poor lifestyle choices. If this doesnt stop them from choosing that lifestyle then the technology is there to help them with the side effects or sympto ms. Hereditary conditions will be easier to treat and cure, I think, enabling improved life expectancy. Quality of life, I also believe, will be enhanced by technology eg better quality housing. Technology is also getting cheaper by the year so should be more affordable. In the future access to clean water wont matter either because if there is an unclean water supply then filters can be fitted. Technology is (and will even more in the future) helping to reduce fatalities from happening when natural disasters occur by, simulating, in the process of building buildings that are less promising to fall, and aiding response times for emergency services to be faster.Bibliography. 1 https//www.google.co.uk/q=define+life+expectancy Definition of life expectancy.2,3,5 http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_HYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancybHYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancyy_life_expectancy World ranki ngs for life expectancy in different years.http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileEsperanza_de_vida.PNG World map of life expectancies (2008).http//www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_tec_ach-economy-technological-achievement Technology achievement index by country.5http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countrHYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_research_and_development_spendingiHYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_research_and_development_spendinges_by_research_and_development_spending6 http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_living_supercentenarians7 http//www.globaladventurechallenges.com/choose-charity/cystic-fibrosis-trust/8 http//www.cff.org/aboutcf/9http//www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb knaveHPAwebAutoListDate/Page/127894397598410 https//www.google.co.uk/q=world+life+expectancy11 http//www.theawl.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Screen-shot-2010-08-17-at-2.11.10-PM.png12 http//wHYPERLINK http//www.express.co.uk/news/uk/421390/Watch-that-tells-your-time-to- diewHYPERLINK http//www.express.co.uk/news/uk/421390/Watch-that-tells-your-time-to-diew.express.co.uk/news/uk/421390/Watch-that-tells-your-time-to-die13http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_numbHYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_userseHYPERLINK http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_Internet_usersr_of_Internet_users Internet users.14http//www.google.co.uk/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_met_y=sp_dyn_le00_inhl=endl=enidim=countryKHMLAOMMRctype=lstrail=falsebcs=dnselm=hmet_y=sp_dyn_le00_inscale_y=linind_y=falserdim=regionidim=countryKHMLAOMMRifdim=regiontstart=-94435200000tend=473644800000hl=en_USdl=enind=false15http//www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/02/20122314155454169.html16http//www.theguardian.com/education/2006/jul/05/highereducation.uk2 Discoveries by UK universities.