While gender-affirming health care is essential to the well-being of trans people, access to quality services varies significantly by geographic region and social context.
A limited supply of donor organs, paired with a massive demand for transplants, has fuelled the global organ trafficking industry, which exploits poor, underprivileged and persecuted members of society as a source of organs to be purchased by wealthy transplant tourists.
(AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
China’s industrial-scale organ trafficking practice has been executing prisoners of conscience and using their organs for transplantation for decades. This is known as forced organ harvesting.
Doctors preparing to perform an operation.
Shutterstock
When it comes to seeking out stem cell treatments for joint injuries, buyer beware. These so-called miracle treatments are often scams, so it vital for patients to discuss options with a physician.
This photo was taken at a resort just outside Chennai, India that caters to medical tourists following discharge from hospital.
(V.A. Crooks)
Informal caregivers play a vital role in medical tourism yet find themselves unprotected as “shadow workers” in a multi-billion dollar industry.
Research calls for global regulation of dental tourism - to prevent poor working conditions for local populations serving a wealth North American elite.
(Shutterstock)
Thousands of North Americans travel to Mexico to eat, drink, shop and get cheap and fast dental care. Meanwhile, local populations suffer racism, poor working conditions and inadequate health care.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is one of many African leaders to have gone abroad for medical treatment.
Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde
Health care systems in many African countries are very poor. Instead of fixing them, many African leaders seek medical attention abroad incurring huge bills which are ultimately paid by taxpayers.
Patients report not being effectively anaesthetised during liposuction procedures to extract stem cells from fat.
hin255/Shutterstock
Once thought to be a problem only in poorly regulated jurisdictions overseas, unproven stem cell treatments are increasingly being offered in Australia. Now, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA…
Tourism isn’t just for sunshine and beaches. It can also be for unapproved medical interventions.
IV via ARZTSAMUI/Shutterstock
Medical tourism is the practice of seeking medical care across international borders. Countries with established medical sectors like the US, Europe, India and Thailand have been traditional destinations…
Holidays: sun, sea, surf and surgery?
Gerard Stolk
Medical tourism is often associated with an image of sun, sand and surgery; patients travelling mostly from rich countries in the global North to exotic destinations for medical treatments at a lower cost…
Hope, faith and miracle are the operative words when it comes to stem cell tourism.
pol sifter/Flickr
Stem cell tourism is when people travel to another country to receive treatments unavailable to them at home. It exists chiefly because most stem cell “treatments” are unproven and not readily available…
Tourists reach for the brolly aboard HMS Britannia in Edinburgh.
David Cheskin
When Thomas Cook launched the first group tours to Scotland’s Trossachs in 1846, the attraction was to see the mythical land featured in Sir Walter Scott’s famous poem The Lady of the Lake, written in…
Not bad, but have you seen the Whitechapel job centre?
Chiugoran
For all of the changes to the UK over the last century, the ideal of “fair play” still seems to be a pretty fundamental part of Britain’s national self-image. The concept that anyone – especially anyone…
Is it him? Or her? We don’t really know.
Garry Knight
A new report into so-called “health tourism” makes for a shocking read. Not because the costs of migrants deemed to have travelled to Britain primarily to enjoy free NHS services on British taxpayers has…
Glasses, check. Passport, check. Cheque for £200?
Flickr/Justin Vidamo
Another argument has broken out between the government and doctors over a proposal to charge immigrants to use the NHS. The government claims a levy will make the NHS more fair and sustainable and stop…
Having heard about the promise of stem cell technology, many people aren’t prepared to wait for their safe development.
Wikimedia Commons
This week, ABC Radio National’s Background Briefing highlights the challenges involved in delivering on the promise of stem cell science and regenerative medicine. Although scientists continue to make…
Professor - Emerging Technologies (Stem Cells) at The University of Melbourne and Group Leader - Stem Cell Ethics & Policy at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne