REMEDIUMREMEDIUM1561-59362658-3534Joint-Stock Company Chicot171710.32687/1561-5936-2024-28-4-381-385Original ArticleOutbound medical tourism and the role of diasporas in its development: review of foreign practiceAmlaevKaren R.kum672002@mail.ruStavropol State Medical University, Stavropol, Russia15122024438138515102025Copyright © 2024,2024The article is an overview of some aspects of medical tourism and the directions of its development. Special attention is paid to the role of diasporas as a driver of medical tourism. The motives of representatives of diasporas to seek medical help in the countries of origin are presented: cultural, linguistic, economic, etc. The conclusion is made about the prospects for the development of diasporic medical tourism based on the study of the socio-economic potential of this population group.medical tourismmedical carediasporadevelopmentcultural motivesfeaturesмедицинский туризммедицинская помощьдиаспораразвитиекультурные мотивыособенности[Oltean F. D., Gabor M. R., Stancioiu A. F. et al. Aspects of marketing in dental tourism-factor of sustainable development in Romania. Sustainability. 2020;12:4320. DOI: 10.3390/su12104320][Wongkit M., McKercher B. Desired attributes of medical treatment and medical service providers: a case study of medical tourism in Thailand. J. Travel Tour. Mark. 2016;33:14–27. DOI: 10.1080/10548408.2015.1024911][Crush J., Chikanda A. South-South medical tourism and the quest for health in Southern Africa. Soc. Sci. Med. 2015;124:313–320. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.06.025.][Ormond M., Sulianti D. More than medical tourism: lessons from Indonesia and Malaysia on South-South intra-regional medical travel. Curr. Issues Tour. 2017;20:94–110. DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2014.937324][Barr-Walker J., Jayaweera R. T., Ramirez A. M., Gerdts C. Experiences of women who travel for abortion: a mixed methods systematic review. PLoS One. 2019;14(4):e0209991. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209991][Sethna C., Palmer B., Ackerman K., Janovicek N. Choice, interrupted: travel and inequality of access to abortion services since the 1960s. Labour/Le Travail. 2013;71:29–48.][Jones R., Jerman J. Abortion incidence and service availability in the United States, 2014. Perspect. Sex. Reprod. Health. 2017;49(1):17–27.][Cartwright A. F., Karunaratne M., Barr-Walker J. et al. Identifying national availability of abortion care and distance from major US cities: Systematic online search. J. Med. Internet Res. 2018;20(5):e186 10.2196/jmir.9717][Baum S., White K., Hopkins K. et al. Women's experience obtaining abortion care in Texas after implementation of restrictive abortion laws: a qualitative study. PLoS One. 2016;11(10):e0165048. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0165048][Fuentes L., Lebenkoff S., White K. et al. Women's experiences seeking abortion care shortly after the closure of clinics due to a restrictive law in Texas. Contraception. 2016;93(4):292–297. DOI: 10.1016/j.contraception.2015.12.017][Jerman J., Frohwirth L., Kavanaugh M. L., Blades N. Barriers to abortion care and their consequences for patients traveling for services: qualitative findings from two states. Perspect. Sex. Reprod. Health. 2017;49(2):95–102.][Roberts S. C., Fuentes L., Kriz R. et al. Implications for women of Louisiana's law requiring abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges. Contraception. 2015;91(5):368–372. DOI: 10.1016/j.contraception.2015.02.001][Sanders J., Conway H., Jacobson J. et al. The longest wait: Examining the impact of Utah's 72-hour waiting period for abortion. Womens Health Issues. 2016;26(5):483–87. DOI: 10.1016/j.whi.2016.06.004][Bearak J. M., Burke K. L., Jones R. K. Disparities and change over time in distance women would need to travel to have an abortion in the USA: a spatial analysis. Lancet Public Health. 2017;2(11):e493–500. DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(17)30158-5][Gheorghe C. M., Purcărea V. L., Gheorghe I. R. Medical tourism in ophthalmology — review. Rom. J. Ophthalmol. 2022;66(2):108–111. DOI: 10.22336/rjo.2022.22][Musa G., Thirumoorthi T., Doshi D. Travel behaviour among inbound medical tourists in Kuala Lumpur. Curr. Issues Tour. 2012;15:525–543. DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2011.626847][Moghimehfar F., Nasr-Esfahani M. H. Decisive factors in medical tourism destination choice: a case study of Isfahan, Iran and fertility treatments. Tour. Manag. 2011;32:1431–1434. DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2011.01.005][Krestyanskova V. A., Skvortsova V. A. Peculiarities of the influence of medical tourism on the economic development of some countries in 2020. Bulletin of Penza State University. 2021;(1):35–38. (In Russ.)][Semenova Z. A., Chistobaev A. I., Grudtcyn N. A. Features of the development of medical tourism in the conditions of the pandemic. Zdorov?e — osnova čelovečeskogo potenciala: problemy i puti rešeniâ. Trudy Vserossijskoj naučnoj konferencii. 2021;16(4):1661–1667. (In Russ.)][Hod K., Bronstein Y., Chodick G,. Shpilberg O. Hemato-oncology tourism in Israel: a retrospective review. JCO Glob. Oncol. 2020;6:1314–1320. DOI: 10.1200/GO.20.00098][Rotem A., Toker A., Mor-Yossef S. Medical tourism: changing a world trend into a national resource. Harefuah. 2009;148, N 1:30–33, 88.][Baymenova A. S., Zhakenova R. S., Kosherova B. N. The market of medical services at the international level (medical tourism): review of the literature. Siberian Scientific Medical Journal. 2019;39(5):5–11. DOI: 10.15372/SSMJ20190501][Kyoung-Lee Kim, Seo Byung-Ro. Developmental strategies of the promotion policies in medical tourism industry in South Korea: a 10-year study (2009–2018). Iran J. Public Health. 2019;48(9):1607–1616.][Mathijsen A., Mathijsen F. P. Diasporic medical tourism: a scoping review of quantitative and qualitative evidence. Global Health. 2020;16(1):27. DOI: 10.1186/s12992-020-00550-x][Ormond M., Lunt N. Transnational medical travel: patient mobility, shifting health system entitlements and attachments. J. Ethn. Migr. Stud. 2019;46(20):4179–4192. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2019.1597465][Vargas Bustamante A. US-Mexico cross-border health visitors: how Mexican border cities in the state of Baja California address unmet healthcare needs from US residents. J. Ethn. Migr. Stud. 2019;46(20):4230–4247. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2019.1597473][OECD/European Union. Settling in 2018: indicators of immigrant integration. Paris; 2018. DOI: 10.1787/9789264307216-en][Newland K., Taylor C. Heritage travel and nostalgia trade: a diaspora niche in the development landscape. Washington; 2010.][Ormond M. Harnessing “diasporic” medical mobilities. Migration, health and inequality / eds. F. Thomas, J. Gideon. London; 2014:150–162.][Şekercan A., Lamkaddem M., Snijder M. B. et al. Healthcare consumption by ethnic minority people in their country of origin. Eur. J. Public Health. 2014;25(3):384–390. DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/cku205][Bergmark R., Barr D., Garcia R. Mexican immigrants in the US living far from the border may return to Mexico for health services. J. Immigr. Minor Health. 2010;12(4):610–614. DOI: 10.1007/s10903-008-9213-8][Horton S., Cole S. Medical returns: seeking health care in Mexico. Soc. Sci. Med. 2011;72(11):1846–1852. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.03.035][Osipovič D. ‘If I get ill, It’s onto the plane, and off to Poland.’ Use of Health Care Services by Polish Migrants in London. Cent. East Eur. Migr. Rev. 2013;2(2):98–114.][Inhorn M. C. Diasporic dreaming: return reproductive travel to the Middle East. Reproduct. Biomed. Online. 2011;23(5):582–591. DOI: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2011.08.006][Şekercan A., Woudstra A. J., Peters R. J.G. et al. Dutch citizens of Turkish origin who utilise healthcare services in Turkey: a qualitative study on motives and contextual factors. BMC Health Serv. Res. 2018;18(1):289. DOI: 10.1186/s12913-018-3026-9][Nielsen S. S., Yazici S., Petersen S. G. et al. Use of cross-border healthcare services among ethnic Danes, Turkish immigrants and Turkish descendants in Denmark: a combined survey and registry study. BMC Health Serv. Res. 2012;12:390. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6963-12-390][Lokdam N., Kristiansen M., Handlos L. N., Norredam M. Use of healthcare services in the region of origin among patients with an immigrant background in Denmark: a qualitative study of the motives. BMC Health Serv. Res. 2016;16:99. DOI: 10.1186/s12913-016-1346-1][Mathijsen A. Home, sweet home? Understanding diasporic medical tourism behaviour. Exploratory research of polish immigrants in Belgium. Tourism Manag. 2019;72:373–385. DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2018.12.009][Waterbury M. A. Bridging the divide: towards a comparative framework for understanding kin state and migrant-sending state diaspora politics. Diaspora and transnationalism: concepts, theories and methods / eds. R. Bauböck, T. Faist. Amsterdam; 2010:131–140.][Jun J., Oh K. M. Framing risks and benefits of medical tourism: a content analysis of medical tourism coverage in Korean American community newspapers. J. Health Commun. 2015;20(6):720–727. DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2015.1018574][Wang L., Kwak M. J. Immigration, barriers to healthcare and transnational ties: a case study of south Korean immigrants in Toronto, Canada. Soc. Sci. Med. 2015;133:340–348. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.11.039][Snyder J., Crooks V. A., Johnson R. et al. “That’s enough patients for everyone!”: local stakeholders’ view on attracting patients into Barbados and Guatemala’s emerging medical tourism sector. Globalization Health. 2016;12:60. DOI: 10.1186/s12992-016-0203-7]