Health highlights of the noughties 

From the lows of health pandemics to the highs of medical breakthroughs JUNE CHEONG revisits the major events of the past decade that had an impact on the health and medical industry and on the lives of billions worldwide

1. Health disaster
If you judge the last decade by its headlines, you will conclude that it was a very bleak period indeed.

The 10 years spanning 2000 and 2009 witnessed the Sars epidemic, bird flu and the H1N1 pandemic.

Sars hit Singapore and worldwide in 2002 and 2003, bird flu ruffled our feathers in 1997 and between 2003 and 2009, while the H1N1 pandemic rounded off the decade.

2. Medical triumphs
Look past the disasters of this decade and you will see there were many triumphs too.

One prime example is the great strides made in medical technology.

The first big achievement of the noughties came early - the human genome sequence was completed in 2003.

The 13-year project, coordinated by the United States Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health with contributions from Britain, Japan, France, Germany, China and other countries, aimed to identify all the approximately 20,000 to 25,000 genes in human DNA and determine the three billion chemical base pairs that made it up.

The ongoing research will also store data for analysis.

Medical breakthroughs like the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and blood thinning drug dabigatran followed soon after and are saving the lives of thousands.

Dr Quek Swee Chong, a senior consultant and head of the pre-invasive disease & screening unit at the department of gynaecological oncology at KK Women's & Children's Hopsital, said: "The HPV vaccine finally offers the prospect of significantly reducing the burden of cervical cancer.

"Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide and the most common in resource-poor countries. Half a million women are diagnosed with the disease every year despite the fact that there are early detection methods like the Pap smear available."

3. Changing face of medicine
One other significant achievement of the decade: Doctors' illegible prescriptions are a thing of the past.

Medical records and test results like X-rays and blood work have gone online, speeding up a patient's diagnosis and treatment process by enabling health-care teams to access such information instantaneously.

Surgery, too, has embraced the charms of machines. In some cases, like in prostrate and pelvic surgery, advanced imagery systems and robotic arms capable of tiny incisions and intricate work are proving to be the new standard. The pincer-like fingers of the da Vinci Surgical System follow the movements of the surgeon's hands and wrists as he operates the robot through a console away from the patient.

Professor London Lucien Ooi, the chairman of the division of surgery at Singapore General Hospital, said: "In the old days, surgeons operated by hand. Now there's a move toward minimally invasive surgery. "Instruments have become more important but a surgeon's hands are still critical to how well an operation goes."

4. Lunchtime nip/tuck
Cosmetic surgery has undergone a facelift. The popularity of television shows like Nip/Tuck and Extreme Makeover has made going for a nip and tuck more acceptable.

The decade ushered in the era of lunchtime cosmetic procedures ranging from Botox injections to teeth whitening to dermal fillers.

Instead of plastic surgery, people can now opt for procedures which are minimally invasive and require less down time such as breast fillers or Botox jabs to slim the jaw.

5. Progress of medical ethics
Medical ethics has not lagged behind.

The case of retail tycoon Tang Wee Sung's bid to buy a kidney from a poor Indonesian man last year generated much spirited public debate, leading to changes in the Human Organ Transplant Act in March this year to allow living donors to be reimbursed for expenses related to the transplant.

As a result, last month, storekeeper Teo Eng Hong, 51, became the first person to be reimbursed by the $10 million Kidney Live Donor Support Fund set up by the National Kidney Foundation when he donated a kidney to his wife, Madam Liau Cheok Huey, 50, a housewife.

6. Going organic
On the food front, the burgeoning cult of organic food is attracting ever more converts. These days, you can find all manner of organic food and produce on the shelves of your local supermarket.

Like Italian gourmet Carlo Petrini's 20-year Slow Food movement, which encourages people to eat local and support local food producers, yoga has steadily gained a mainstream following here and the world over in the last 10 years.

The emphasis on returning to the root of things, be it food or spirituality, has indubitable appeal for an urbanite scarred by fast food, a shoddy economic system and political instability.

Perhaps the outbreak of the H1N1 flu pandemic is a timely reminder that we share not just DNA, but also a world and that each of us has a responsibility to respect and revere life.