ABSTRACT
Worldwide, growing numbers of people seek health care beyond their home settings and national borders. For some people, this is volitional, as they move to take up new opportunities or to improve their own or their children’s life circumstances. Far larger numbers of people move internally and across borders a result of economic and environmental crises, civil war and human rights abuses, or because basic human needs cannot be met in the post-conflict settings in which they find themselves. People move across borders in search of health care and treatments that, in different settings, might be less expensive, more sophisticated, more accessible, or subject to different legislation and control. Increasingly, medical institutions in high-and middle-income countries promote surgical procedures and care to an international market, while pharmaceutical companies and practitioners test out new drugs and procedures in different country settings. In health care, it seems, borders can be especially porous. In this chapter, we explore how and why people seek medical care, treatments and cures across borders, between countries and health systems, and we examine the various implications of this medical travel.
