Public health in the twenty-first century: the role of advanced technologies

Nearly a century ago, Charles-Edward Amory Winslow, defined public health as “the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health and efficiency through organized community effort” ( 1 ). From health policy reforms to scientific advances with many technological innovations, a range of forces are converging to cause a seismic shift in how public health is practiced. We think that in the twenty-first century, global public health system will be completely restructured. Reliance on complex technologies like nanotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI), which were previously only used in fields like computer science and physics, will become the new trend. Using such advanced technologies would become megatrends of public health in new and exciting ways. Historically, public health, in comparison to other scientific disciplines, has been behind the curve in terms of using advanced technologies ( 2 ). This article highlights the current trends in public health in terms of use of advanced technologies like nanotechnology and AI and how they can impact the future of public health in the twenty-first century.