From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ruglucia@paho.org">ruglucia@paho.org</a>></span><br><div class="gmail_quote"><br><br>
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<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font color="maroon" face="Arial" size="4"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:maroon;font-weight:bold">Travelling Well: Essays in Medical Tourism<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">Transdisciplinary
Studies in Population Health Series - Volume 4, Issue 1, 2013</span></font></b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-family:Arial"><br>
Edited by <span style="color:rgb(51,51,255)">Ronald Labonté</span>, Vivien Runnels, Corinne Packer and Raywat Deonandan. <br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">The whole publication can be found
at the following webpage: <a href="http://bit.ly/10FwyS1" target="_blank"><font color="black"><span style="color:windowtext">http://bit.ly/10FwyS1</span></font></a> <br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> “…………The
opening years of the 21<sup>st</sup> century have been characterized by a
variety of technological, social, political and economic factors that have
seen the disintegration of the meaning and importance of international
borders. From the power of the Internet to link disparate populations, to the
consolidation of blocs of politically intertwined nations such as the European
Union (EU), and the rise of affordable international travel, forces have been combining
to bring about a globalized world economy that was only theorized in decades
past. <br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">An obvious facet of this new
globalization is the permeability of borders to the movement of consumers
seeking a variety of medical services, and providers willing to accommodate, if
not also profit, from this demand.<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">The services sought span a
surprisingly diverse array of medical products, interventions and technologies:
the motivations of travellers seeking these services are equally as diverse. <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Travellers in search of organs for
emergency transplantation are often driven by a shortage of timely, local
donors. <br>
Travellers seeking non-emergency surgeries, like those travelling from <u></u>Canada<u></u> to <u></u>Latin America<u></u>
for knee replacement surgery, are motivated by lowered costs and <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">shorter waiting lists. <br>
Reproductive ‘tourists’ may seek maternal surrogates in <u></u><u></u>India<u></u><u></u>
for a variety of complicated reasons, including cost reduction and the
avoidance of legal restrictions at home.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Running throughout these diverse
sets of services and motivators are a few ubiquitous threads. Among them is the
is the strange marriage of medicine with global commerce and the challenges
that this union poses to ethicists. There is also the powerful rhetoric of
liberalization and global economic integration that provides the rationale and
bolsters the discourse of the industry….”<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">The book’s contents are as
follows:<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">•
Chapter 1: Introduction<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">o Sets the stage for the book
with modern medical tourism viewed as a commercial enterprise and a
manifestation of the processes of globalization. Our use of the term
‘medical tourism’ refers to situations wherein an individual makes
a decision to physically travel to a location in another country for the
purpose of obtaining medical treatment for which he or she has paid
(out-of-pocket or through individual insurance plans).<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">• Chapter
2: Overview: Medical Tourism Today - What, Who, Why and Where?<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">o This chapter reviews and
updates the current evidence of medical tourism, with a focus on the
cross-border pursuit of more conventional or customary forms of healthcare (dental,
surgical, and diagnostic).<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">•
Chapter 3: South-South and North-South Medical Tourism: The Case of <u></u><u></u>South Africa<u></u><u></u><u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Provides an overview of the volume
and various types of medical tourism to <u></u>South
Africa<u></u>, while also highlighting the differences between North-South
and South-South medical travel to <u></u><u></u>South Africa<u></u><u></u>. <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">The article also examines the
emergence of inter-governmental agreements on medical treatment between <u></u><u></u>South Africa<u></u><u></u>
and other African countries, and discusses the implications of the South
African case study on our understanding of medical tourism.<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">•
Chapter 4: Medical Value Travel in <u></u><u></u>India<u></u><u></u>: Prospects and Challenges<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">o Analyzes the medical
tourism industry in <u></u><u></u>India<u></u><u></u>.
The article discusses the facilitators and constraints to <u></u>India<u></u>'s medical tourism industry, presents the
benefits and concerns, and outlines positive steps for <u></u><u></u>India<u></u><u></u> domestically,
as well as internationally, in order to facilitate its medical tourism exports.<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">•
Chapter 5: Exploring Medical Tourism in <u></u>Latin America<u></u>
- Two Case Examples<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">o Provides an overview of two
country case examples (<u></u>Mexico<u></u>
and <u></u><u></u>Cuba<u></u><u></u>),
which represent two fundamentally different models of medical tourism. The article
discusses the medical services offered and the effects the industry has on the
overall healthcare system of each respective country.<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">•
Chapter 6: Exceptional Aspects of the Experiences of Canadian Medical Tourists
from Patient Narratives<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">o This chapter presents five
vignettes that bring forth uncommon or exceptional aspects of particular
Canadian medical tourists' experiences in order to raise questions and offer
caveats to the many generalizations and conspicuous absences that are found in
current popular and academic discussions of how a medical tour unfolds.<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">•
Chapter 7: Out of <u></u><u></u>Canada<u></u><u></u>
- A Personal Experience of Bariatric Surgery<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">o A personal story of a
patient battling to sustain weight loss, and her experience at a <u></u><u></u>US<u></u><u></u> facility
conducting bariatric surgery.<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">•
Chapter 8: Travelling for Healthcare from <u></u><u></u>Canada<u></u><u></u> <br>
An Overview of Out-of-Country Care Funded by Provincial/Territorial
Health Insurance Plans<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">o This chapter examines Out
of Country Care (OOCC) funded by Canadian provincial/territorial health
insurance plans. It specifically looks at some challenges to the current system
and suggests some potential research questions and general implications of
cross-border and OOCC for a country with a publicly-funded healthcare system.<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">•
Chapter 9: An Introduction to the Ethical Dimensions of Reproductive Medical
Tourism<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">o Analyzes the ethical
implications of reproductive medical tourism, including travel for IVF, ICSI,
sex-selection, PGD and maternal surrogacy.<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">• Chapter
10: The Impact of Trade Treaties on Health Tourism<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">o This chapter examines the
extent to which trade agreements can impact health tourism.<br>
<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold"><u></u><u></u></span></b></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">•
Chapter 11: Let's Make a Deal - The Commerce of Medical Tourism.<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">This chapter summarizes the
author’s first-hand experiences and the issues presented of a commercial
international medical tourism conference.<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><b><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold">•
Chapter 12: Conclusion - Medical Tourism Today and Tomorrow.<u></u><u></u></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">Closes thebook with a brief summary
and some reflections on future directions.<br>
<br>
<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><font face="Arial"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></font></p></div></div></div><br>