Implications of big data for individuals (3)
Healthcare Benefits
Big data has completely changed healthcare with its ability to deliver more predictive, preventive, and personalized care. Records of electronic health, fitness trackers wearable, and social media are just some examples of the sources of data, which can be analyzed to identify health trends, monitor disease outbreaks, and drive patient outcomes. In turn, this enables doctors to be able to identify diseases at an early stage and treat them more efficiently.
Arguably, the most revolutionary contribution of big data to the healthcare sector is in the field of personalized medicine. If genetic, lifestyle, and environmental data are integrated, medical treatments can be customized for each person. This can not only increase success rate, minimize adverse effects, but also save money in healthcare over a period of time.
Big data can definitely be called a blessing for public health. In times of pandemics or epidemics, data analytics enables tracing of the virus spread, plans for resources allocation, and evaluation of the effectiveness of policies. But the collection and further use of sensitive health information inevitably raises ethical issues. Most importantly, these issues are with regard to data security, permission, and the possible misuse of the information by the insurance companies or the employers.
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