Applications of Space Technologies to Global Health: Scoping Review (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Space technology has an impact on many domains of activity on earth, including in the field of global health. With the recent adoption of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals that highlight the need for strengthening partnerships in different domains, it is useful to better characterize the relationship between space technology and global health. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify the applications of space technologies to global health, the key stakeholders in the field, as well as gaps and challenges. METHODS We used a scoping review methodology, including a literature review and the involvement of stakeholders, via a brief self-administered, open-response questionnaire. A distinct search on several search engines was conducted for each of the four key technological domains that were previously identified by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs’ Expert Group on Space and Global Health (Domain A: remote sensing; Domain B: global navigation satellite systems; Domain C: satellite communication; and Domain D: human space flight). Themes in which space technologies are of benefit to global health were extracted. Key stakeholders, as well as gaps, challenges, and perspectives were identified. RESULTS A total of 222 sources were included for Domain A, 82 sources for Domain B, 144 sources for Domain C, and 31 sources for Domain D. A total of 3 questionnaires out of 16 sent were answered. Global navigation satellite systems and geographic information systems are used for the study and forecasting of communicable and noncommunicable diseases; satellite communication and global navigation satellite systems for disaster response; satellite communication for telemedicine and tele-education; and global navigation satellite systems for autonomy improvement, access to health care, as well as for safe and efficient transportation. Various health research and technologies developed for inhabited space flights have been adapted for terrestrial use. CONCLUSIONS Although numerous examples of space technology applications to global health exist, improved awareness, training, and collaboration of the research community is needed.

Does heart rate variability reflect brain plasticity as a likely mechanism of adaptation to space mission?

“…Monitoring of their functional state is based on the assessment of changes within the physiological norm, where the main ones are shifts (reorganizations) occurring in the mechanisms of regulation and developing at the information-temporal or informationenergy levels of the body (Baevsky et al, 2011). In this sense, the individual approach of space medicine to health assessment can be seen as a prerequisite for modern personalized medicine (Dietrich et al, 2018;Pavez Loriè et al, 2021).On the one hand, the structural elements of the human body are a system of independent components, on the other hand, they are characterized by complex interactions (Burggren and Monticino, 2005;Grenfell et al, 2006), therefore, the creation of a unified concept of health in space medicine is an integrative task that can be solved from the standpoint of systems biology.The totality of space flight factors requires the human body to exert constant tension on its regulatory systems to maintain homeostasis (Baevsky et al, 2014). The complex impact of stress factors leads to the fact that ever-higher levels of control over the physiological functions of the body are involved in the adaptation process (Baevsky et al, 2007;Baevsky et al, 2009).…”

“…Monitoring of their functional state is based on the assessment of changes within the physiological norm, where the main ones are shifts (reorganizations) occurring in the mechanisms of regulation and developing at the information-temporal or informationenergy levels of the body (Baevsky et al, 2011). In this sense, the individual approach of space medicine to health assessment can be seen as a prerequisite for modern personalized medicine (Dietrich et al, 2018;Pavez Loriè et al, 2021).…”