Medical Tourism News and Research

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Medical tourism (also called medical travel, health tourism or global healthcare) is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly-growing practice of travelling across international borders to obtain health care.

Bird flu in Asia - tourists not bothered!

Despite concern on the part of the tour industry, the spread of bird flu in Asia does not appear to be putting tourists off visiting the area.

11 Dec 2005

More men pay for sex in the UK

Researchers at Imperial College London, say that the number of British men paying for sex has doubled during the last decade and the men were more likely to have had a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

2 Dec 2005

Reproductive tourism is on the increase in Europe

Reproductive tourism is on the increase in Europe, but rather than condemning it, we should regard it as a "safety valve" that helps us to avoid moral conflict, according to a European ethics expert.

20 Jun 2005

Humans and wildlife in Britain threatened by diseases from imported animals

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) says far more needs to be done to prevent imported animals spreading diseases to humans and wildlife in Britain.

14 Jun 2005

Rejected asylum seekers and illegal immigrants should get HIV treatment free on the National Health Service

MPs on the Commons health select committee say, in a strongly worded report, that rejected asylum seekers and illegal immigrants should get HIV treatment free on the National Health Service (NHS) like everybody else, to avoid the risk of a further spread of Aids; they say the government's withdrawal of free treatment from these groups as a measure against "health tourism" was ill-advised.

23 Mar 2005

Eating seafood containing toxic substances can have serious neurological as well as gastrointestinal effects

In parts of the Pacific, the number of cases of marine poisoning exceeds 1200 per 100 000 people per year. Although most of the burden of marine poisoning is in rural coastal communities, many people who live outside these communities, or travel to them, are presenting to their doctors with acute or ongoing effects after eating seafood.

21 Mar 2005

Sexual behaviour study of Nepalese trekking guides

Researchers in Aberdeen have begun a study into the sexual behaviour of trekking guides in one of the world’s fastest growing adventure destinations.

7 Feb 2005

New recommendations which will help pre-empt drinking water contamination

Ensuring drinking water is safe is a challenge in every part of the world, from water piped into people's homes, to rural wells and water provided to refugee camps in an emergency.

22 Sep 2004

Infectious disease registers could help detect emerging infections in tourist destinations

Though picking up a Salmonella infection abroad could ruin your holiday, reporting it to your doctor could help detect emerging infections in tourist destinations, according to an article published today in BMC Medicine.

1 Sep 2004

Unethical to deny failed asylum seekers access to the NHS

It is unethical to deny failed asylum seekers access to the NHS, argues a doctor in this week's BMJ.

29 Jul 2004

Teenage girls' obsession with looking like Britney Spears or Posh Spice is leading to them to make unhealthy diet choices

Irish teenage girls' obsession with looking like pop divas Britney Spears or Posh Spice is leading to them to make unhealthy diet choices, according to University research.

29 Jul 2004

Two-thirds of the nearly 40 million people living with HIV today are workers

At the XVth International AIDS Conference (Bangkok 11-16 July), the AIDS programme of the International Labour Office (ILO) is launching a new report on "HIV/AIDS and work: global estimates, impact and response". Franklyn Lisk, Director of the ILO Global Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work talks about the ILO report and the expanded response of the ILO to AIDS in the workplace.

17 Jul 2004

World Bank has approved a US$68 million credit to the Indian government for the Integrated Disease Surveillance project

India has made major gains in control of a number of communicable diseases and in improving overall health of its population. Nevertheless, with the increasing age profile of the population, India is in transition with the double burden of significant communicable diseases and increasing non-communicable diseases such as cardio-vascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and cataract blindness, maladies that usually affect higher income countries.

11 Jul 2004

Amid unprecedented global prosperity, the world’s poor were more vulnerable now than ever

The 43 speakers in two meetings today -- on resources mobilization and an enabling environment for poverty eradication -- recognized that the primary responsibility for development in the least developed countries (LDCs) rested with those nations themselves.

2 Jul 2004

Current legislation on preimplantation genetic diagnosis in Germany does not reflect the views of the general public

At present PGD is forbidden in Germany, but in one of the first large study of attitudes to PGD amongst the general population and infertile couples in Germany, the researchers found that the majority of Germans think the technique should be permitted.

28 Jun 2004

Australia's CSIRO to exhibit major display at the world's largest biotechnology conference

CSIRO is mounting a major display of technologies this week at BIO 2004, the world's largest biotechnology conference, being held in San Francisco, USA, from 6-9 June.

7 Jun 2004

WHO to tackle heart disease, diabetes, cancers, road safety as well as diseases

The World Health Assembly, the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization, has raised global public health to a new level, by resolving to take more action to prevent death and illness resulting from heart disease, diabetes, cancers, road safety, and lack of access to health services as well as from diseases spread by viruses, bacteria and other dangerous microbes.

22 May 2004