Stefano Marzano delivered a thought-provoking speech at the World Design Congress Singapore 2009 in November on how society might approach healthcare in the future. The organizers of the event, the International Councils of Societies of Industrial Design, had invited leading figures from the design world - ‘design masters’ -  to choose a subject and present their thoughts on how it might look like in the year 2050.

According to current indications, in 2050 there will be 9 billion inhabitants in the world, 2 billion of whom will be older than 60, half of the developed world chronically ill. The implications for healthcare - and for society in general - will be staggering.

A general and holistic approach
Stefano believes that any kind of prediction of healthcare landscape 40 years from now would either be naive or an exercise in science fiction - it is simply too far ahead. Instead, he proposes a more general and holistic approach to healthcare.  To illustrate this, he presented three concept scenarios based around three characters; Eve and her quest for a healthy baby, Pete with his lung-carrying dog, and Mary. These scenarios are intended as examples of a very different view of specific aspects of the care continuum. They address issues that may be contentious and even controversial, like genetic manipulation and cross-species organ transportation, but which at the same time promote dialogue and creative thinking.

This personalized care model, called ‘Cupio Curo’, is an all-encompassing methodology that brought together the myriad factors that influence someone's health, fitness and general sense of well-being, while examining the context in which these occur. Translated into an interactive and intelligent tool, ‘Cupio Curo’ could be at the heart of bringing together a network of healthcare stakeholders to address one’s health and well-being issues at any point in their life.