Antibiotic resistance: Overuse of antibiotics has caused bacteria to evolve resistance. MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and C. difficile are leading examples. Some infections now untreatable with existing antibiotics. Could return us to pre-penicillin death rates from simple infections.
Lifestyle diseases: Obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and lung cancer are largely caused by diet, inactivity, smoking, and alcohol. Medicine can treat symptoms but cannot cure without behaviour change. Accounts for the majority of NHS spending.
Aging population: People living longer means more dementia, cancer, and chronic illness. The NHS was designed in 1948 for a population with shorter life expectancy. Funding and staffing under growing pressure.
Health inequalities: Life expectancy varies by up to 10 years between wealthy and deprived areas of the UK. Globally, treatments available in rich countries are inaccessible in poor ones. Progress in medicine does not automatically mean equal access.
This deep dive covers Modern Challenges within Modern Medicine for GCSE History. Revise Modern Medicine in Medicine Through Time for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 3 of 17 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Practice questions for Modern Medicine
In which year did Watson and Crick discover the structure of DNA?
Who performed the world's first heart transplant in 1967?
Quick recall flashcards
When was the first heart transplant?
1967 — Christiaan Barnard in South Africa
Who discovered DNA structure and when?
Watson and Crick, 1953