"Ensure that you are well aware of the risks you are taking…": actions and activities medical tourists' informal caregivers can undertake to protect their health and safety

The north-south policy divide in transnational healthcare: a comparative review of policy research on medical tourism in source and destination countries

Medical tourism occupies different spaces within national policy frameworks depending on which side of the transnational paradigm countries belong to, and how they seek to leverage it towards their developmental goals. This article draws attention to this policy divide in transnational healthcare through a comparative bibliometric review of policy research on medical tourism in select source (Canada, United States and United Kingdom) and destination countries (Mexico, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore), using a systematic search of the Web of Science (WoS) database and review of grey literature. We assess cross-national differences in policy and policy research on medical tourism against contextual policy landscapes and challenges, and examine the convergence between research and policy. Our findings indicate major disparities in development agendas and national policy concerns, both between and among source and destination countries. Further, we find that research on medical tourism does not always address prevailing policy challenges, just as the policy discourse oftentimes neglects relevant policy research on the subject. Based on our review, we highlight the limited application of theoretical policy paradigms in current medical tourism research and make the case for a comparative policy research agenda for the field.

Perceived Risks, Travel Constraints, and Destination Perception: A Study on Sub-Saharan African Medical Travellers

In medical travel, previous studies have investigated the factors that influence medical travellers to receive treatment outside the country. However, most of these studies are limited to travel motivations and perceptions of medical services at destinations. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between medical travellers’ perceived risks, travel constraints, and destination image based on medical and non-medical attributes. This is a quantitative study whereby the data was collected from 306 sub-Saharan African medical travellers, who visited India for the treatment. The study found that physical-health risk has a significant negative influence on destination image based on medical attributes. The service quality risk has a negative effect on destination image based on both medical and non-medical attributes, and destination risk has a negative effect on destination image based on medical attributes. The study also found that travel constraints have a negative influence on both medical and non-medical destination image.

Impacting Health through Cross-Border Pharmaceutical Purchases

Annually, retirees known as Winter Texans travel to spend the winter along the Texas/Mexico border and while there, many purchase medicine in Mexico. However, strategies that are used when purchasing Mexican medicine and the health implications of doing so have not been adequately explored. The results of the study we report illustrate that Winter Texans are knowledgeable about their healthcare and act more as choice-making consumers than patients seeking care. Furthermore, the use of Mexican medication did not increase rates of adverse drug events or decrease health-related quality of life scores.