1: OVERVIEW The Global Health ChallengeAs the health needs of patients and populations continue to grow in both number and complexity, health systems across the globe will come under increasing pressure. The worldwide proportion of the burden of chronic disease is expected to rise to 57% by 2020, 1 with emerging markets hardest hit in line with population growth. 2 In developing countries, pressure on healthcaresystems will be exacerbated by ageing populations and an increase in people living with diseases related to old age. By 2050, the proportion of people living with dementia is predicted to double, with 1.4% of the global population affected – translating to some 131.5m people .3Growth in global healthcare spending is projected to almost double to an annual rate of 5.4% between 2018 and 2022 compared to just 2.9% between 2013 and 2017. 4 At the same time, healthcare resources are under fire, with funding in many countries being depleted and a globalshortage of 15m health workers forecast by 2030. 5 A fundamental shift in attitudes to health combined with radically more efficient solutions is therefore essential in order to avoid crisis.‘We have to fill the digital gap in healthcare or risk failure,’ says Dr Bertalan Meskó, Digital Health Futurist and Director of The Medical Futurist Institute. ‘In the next five to 10 years, we’ll witness a paradigm shift as technology empowers consumers who want to be involved and engaged to take control of their health.’This report by strategic foresight consultancy The Future Laboratory, in partnership with leading global consumer health company RB, explores how environmental, cultural and technological shifts will affect people’s health needs over the next two decades. It will examine how the healthcare industry will need to evolve and partner to support consumers throughout their lives, and the innovative solutions that will enable people to take their health into their own hands.
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