11th #World #Congress on #Precision and #Personalized_Medicine
#August 14-15, 2019 #Auckland, #New_Zealand
#Health_care Professionals #Exhibitors

Precision medicine should be accessible to all

Envision a future where babies survive debilitating or fatal conditions because of implemented universal newborn screening; where parents avoid aggressive cancers because genetic screening programs placed them on care pathways more likely to keep them alive; where people suffer from fewer medication side effects because tests predicted negative reactions and enabled doctors to proactively prescribe other treatments.

This is a glimpse into a globally attainable future using precision medicine approaches. Precision Medicine refers to a more precise and targeted approach to screening, diagnosing, treating and potentially curing patients based on their own unique genetic and biologic make-up.

Precision medicine is often perceived as a new and expensive foray into sequencing whole genomes, diagnosing glitches in DNA and developing medications targeted to very small populations. However, such advancements are examples of how healthcare builds on and progresses decades-old achievements like newborn screening tests, hereditary risk-factor tests, cancer screenings, and personalized medication dosing. These achievements are widespread in some countries and realizable and beneficial for many more. A growing number of low- and middle- income countries have recognized this possibility, and its progression, and started pursuing policy approaches and partnerships for precision medicine.