Adapting to a Global Health Challenge: Managing Antimicrobial Resistance in the Nordics

Abstract

This article explores the adaptation of Norway and Sweden to one of the major challenges to global public health, antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Guided by assumptions derived from institutional theory, the article investigates whether, and, if so, how the AMR problem has affected the two Nordic countries’ administrative systems and frameworks for Nordic cooperation. The article builds on selected literature, expert interviews, and public documents. The findings suggest that the international impact on Norway and Sweden’s managerial adaptation to AMR is limited. Instead, adaptation takes place through incremental change within existing structures for disease prevention and control and follows traditional ways of organizing political and administrative systems.