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Museum of Health Futures
A Guide for Further Reflection
How might we reimagine health for all?
The Museum of Health Futures explores past milestones of public health, paired with speculative objects from probable, possible and preferred futures.
We invite you to explore the different themes that influence our health.
How might you contribute to health for all in the future?
Disclaimer: Some of the images featured in this guide were generated using Midjourney and OpenAI's DALLE-2. Like the future artefacts themselves, they are intended to represent speculative future scenarios and possibilities, not based on real-world data or predictions. These visuals are for illustrative purposes only and should not be interpreted as definitive representations of the future.
Background
The Museum of Health Futures is an ongoing, futures-thinking driven exhibition first launched at the Regional Committee Meeting of the World Health Organization Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO WPRO) from 21-25 October 2024. It is the culmination of a six-month futures-thinking process that began on World Health Day in April 2024, marking WHO's 76th anniversary. This process is rooted in the belief that, as WHO celebrated 75 years of public health milestones, it should also look towards the next 75 years. The recent nomination of Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala as WPRO’s new Regional Director and the development of WPRO’s vision for the next five years provided an ideal moment to explore how health might be weaved in the future. The process has been developed by the WHO WPRO Strategic Dialogue Unit (DIA) in the Data, Strategy and Innovation Division (DSI), in collaboration with MOD. (Museum of Discovery) and researchers at the University of South Australia.
A Journey through Health Futures: Past & Future Artefacts
his guide is designed to lead you on a journey through the Museum of Health Futures, where multiple health futures are envisioned and brought to life through a unique blend of storytelling and speculative objects (future artefacts).
Scenarios: Informing Stories
Scenarios are potential future settings in which we may find ourselves. They are used to create a fictional, yet possible, backdrop to a future world within which stories, people, organizations and artefacts can exist. Through the creative workshops in April the below scenarios were co-designed with staff and partners to represent a range of plausible and preposterous futures in which the artefacts and stories speculatively exist.
Conclusion
By envisioning diverse futures through the artefacts and scenarios in the Museum of Health Futures, visitors are encouraged to expand their thinking and see how their work today shapes the health of tomorrow. As you explore these possibilities, you’ll have the opportunity to anticipate future challenges, test out potential solutions, and refine strategies to tackle health issues more effectively.
Self-Guided Artefact Hunt
Create your own miniature BubbleTuk!
BubbleTuk Artefact Hunt
The BubbleTuk Artefact Hunt is a self-guided activity that you can enjoy at any time during your visit to the exhibition. As you progress through the Museum of Health Futures, you will collect 8 small pieces of pre-cut wood, each representing a component of a 3D take-home miniature BubbleTuk. These pieces are found at artefact pairs that covering the six themes explored in the exhibition: transformative primary care for universal health coverage, climate-resilient health systems, resilient communities, societies, and health systems for health security, healthier people throughout the life course, technology and innovation for future health equity, and WHO transformation.