Looking ahead to medical advances in 2012

The search to address health issues has made new advances in medical technology a part of everyday life.

High-tech developments and state-of-the-art machines are now able to aid persistent medical conditions and life-threatening diseases.

But many of the treatments are expensive and critics say they are well out of the reach of the world’s poor.

The real challenge is how to share these advances with all the world’s population – both the rich and those in poverty

In areas like health information, mobile connectivity, like applications that offer free medical reference materials on a smartphone, could bring new methods of care to the developing world.

Al Jazeera’s Tarek Bazley takes a look at some of the most promising advances from the medical world that we can expect this year.