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Case Study

It is 2033, and antibiotic resistance is no longer a threat. How did we get there? (Mini Case)

By Knut Bjarne Haanaes

4 pages

October 2024

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Reference: IMD-7-2614

In the early 2000s, addressing antibiotics resistance seemed like an insurmountable threat. The World Health Organization (WHO) projected that it would claim 8–10 million lives annually by 2050 if left unchecked. Antibiotics, long considered a miracle of modern medicine, had, over time, become increasingly ineffective as bacteria evolved mechanisms to resist them. What was once a triumph of science had slowly turned into a global nightmare, and finding the solution to this potential crisis had been as much about fixing economic systems as it was about developing new drugs. The good news is that by 2033, the world has turned the corner and addressed an enormous global health problem. How did we solve it “before we had to?”

Learning Objective

Apply the future-back approach to a real-life global health issue

Keywords

Sustainability, Future Shaping, System Change, Market Failure, Good Health, Well-being

Settings

World/global
Healthcare
2024-2033

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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