CFP: Trips that Heal: Exploring Recent Trends in Wellness, Health and Medical Tourism (Special Issue of The International Journal for Responsible Tourism)

Call for Papers– Trips that Heal: Exploring Recent Trends in Wellness, Health and Medical Tourism (Special Issue of  The International Journal for Responsible Tourism) 

Extended Deadline November 9

*http://amphitheatreconferences.gm.ro/publications/ijrt/call-for-papers/issue-22015-special-issue/

The notion that travel has restorative properties lies at the historical roots of tourism. Tourists’ pursuits have long been guided by an underlining belief that by ‘getting away’ from time to time they can  improve their physical and mental health (Urry 2001). Over the past 
century, specific styles of tourism have emerged to provide more focused  responses to a wide range of curative needs. Today people travel to spas  and balneary destinations for non-invasive practices and preventive  treatments (Reisman 2010) but also, and increasingly, to state-of-the-art hospitals, for more targeted intrusive procedures (Lunt et al. 2011).

This special issue of IJRT is concerned more broadly with Wellness and Health Tourism, but has a particular focus on Medical Tourism. Some of the questions and topics with which we seek to engage include, but are not limited to, the following:

- /The conceptualisation and terminology used in understanding these different types of tourism, as well as their methodological underpinning/ (Connell 2013). How can we quantify and assess the impacts of these phenomena? How do they differ and overlap and what is their relation with more standard forms of tourism?

- /The demographic, social and economic background of people who travel for health reasons/. How do travellers’ profiles link with the severity of the procedures they pursue?

- /Markets and marketing of medical tourism./ How and why do markets for medical tourism develop (Lunt and Carrera 2010)? Who are the key stakeholders in this process? What are the marketing strategies of the industry? Papers that bring evidence from emerging markets are particularly welcome.

- /Barriers vs. assistance encountered by tourists/patients in their travel./ What kind of legal, bureaucratic, cultural, material and emotional issues they face and what are the actual or possible responsesin terms of infrastructure and regulations offered by the industry’s stakeholders and by policy makers (Garcıa-Altes 2005)?

- /Trips that do not heal./ What can go wrong in Wellness, Health, or Medical tourism? How can legislation, international partnerships or accreditation schemes be developed in order to protect tourists/patients (Reisman 2010; Lund /et al./ 2011)? How do people access information about service providers and how reliable is this knowledge? 

- /Country-level risks and benefits of outsourcing medical services/ (Bies and Zacharia 2007). What is the impact of medical tourism on the national healthcare systems of both sending and receiving countries?

*References*

Bies, W. and Zacharia, L. (2007). Medical tourism: Outsourcing surgery. /Mathematical and Computer Modelling, /46, 1144-1159.
Connell, J. (2013). Contemporary medical tourism: Conceptualisation, culture and commodification. /Tourism Management, /34, 1-13.
Garcıa-Altes, A. (2005). The Development of Health Tourism Services./Annals of Tourism Research/, 32(1), pp. 262–266
Lunt, N., Smith, R., Exworthy M., Green, S. T., Horsfall, D. and Mannion, R. (2011) /Medical Tourism: Treatments, Markets and Health 
System Implications: A scoping review /[Online]. Available from: http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/48723982.pdf
Lunt, N. and Carrera, P. (2010). Medical tourism: Assessing the evidence on treatment abroad./Maturitas, /66, 27-32.
Reisman, D. (2010). /Health Tourism: Social Welfare Through International Trade. /Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
Urry, J. (2001). /The tourist gaze. Leisure and Travel in Contemporary Societies/. London: Sage.

*Submission guidelines*

Papers must be between 5000 – 9000 words. Shorter texts may be submitted as research notes or essays. Authors are required to provide a 
short abstract, 3-5 keywords, and mention their (academic) title and institutional affiliation. References should be cited according to the Harvard style. Please send manuscripts to maria.gorska@fundatia-amfiteatru.ro

*About IJRT*
/The International Journal for Responsible Tourism (IJRT)/aims to create a space for analysing and debating key issues related to the notion of 
responsible tourism. We invite scientific papers that are both theoretically informed and empirically grounded and we are particularly 
interested in scholarship that can be applied, serving as a base for training and guiding various tourism practitioners.

/IJRT/is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal edited by the /Amphitheatre Centre for Education, Development and Research/. The 
publication is the first of its kind in Romania and it also represents the main outlet for papers that are discussed in the /International 
Forum for Responsible Tourism/. /IJRT/ is indexed by RePEc, Econ Papers, EBSCO, CABI, Index Copernicus, CIRET and getCITED International. For 
more information and the full archive of the journal, please visit: http://amphitheatreconferences.gm.ro/publications/ijrt/about-ijrt/.

CFP: 1st IMTJ Academic Conference ‘Medical tourism: Time for a check-up?’, 25-26 May 2016, Madrid

IMTJ Academic Conference

‘Medical tourism: Time for a check-up?’

25-26 May 2016

Madrid, Spain

Call for papers

Much research on ‘medical tourism’, ‘international medical travel’, ‘cross-border healthcare’ and ‘transnational patient mobility’ to date has focused on the hopes, motivations and experiences of mobile patients as well as on the desires, plans and expectations of the national destinations that attract and host them. By contrast, scant scholarly work has examined the concrete effects of this growing phenomenon on the diverse range of places, peoples, health and social systems, and industries in the areas where these patients habitually reside and, for medical travel destinations, in the particular local areas where these patients’ (physical, symbolic and economic) presence can most be felt.

As a result, while more and more governmental and private-sector bodies in destinations are investing in the development of ‘medical tourism’, scant evidence is available to support, refute or complicate:

• ·         Popularised notions about who is actually travelling for what kinds of medical attention and treatment;
• ·         Claims that ‘medical tourism’ can serve as an engine for economic development in destinations or hinder/harm mobile patients’ home and host health systems; and
• ·         Arguments about who benefits and who does not from ‘medical tourism’ and ‘transnational patient mobility’ strategies that are shifting and evolving in line with emerging and changing market, social and political situations both within and beyond national borders.
• 
  

This two-day conference therefore aims to bring together scholars from academic and research institutions from around the globe in order to critically examine and discuss existing and emerging national, sub-national, transnational and cross-sectoral strategies for the following:

• ·      Promoting and dissuading ‘medical tourism’ and ‘transnational patient mobility’ in and between source and destination sites, in order to draw attention to the diversity of stakeholders, interests and scales involved;
• ·      Evaluating and managing the range of real and expected impacts of (diverse stakeholders’ investments in) ‘medical tourism’ and ‘transnational patient mobility’ in and between source and destination sites, in order to move beyond an unproductive circulation of often poorly-grounded claims and counter-claims; and
• ·      Identifying and assessing the real-life needs, desires, expectations and practices of a broader range of foreign healthcare-users and -consumers, in order to recognise not only the great diversity of mobile patients (e.g., geographical origins, socio-economic and political status, etc.) but also other resident ‘foreigners’ (e.g., expatriates, lifestyle migrants, foreign students, etc.) who make use of ‘medical tourism’ resources.

We invite scholars to submit papers that critically engage with the abovementioned issues. Papers focused on multi-scalar and cross-sectoral governance of ‘medical tourism’ and ‘transnational patient mobility’ initiatives, partnerships and networks as well as those examining how ‘medical tourism’ and ‘transnational patient mobility’ fit within broader development objectives (e.g., transition towards the creative economy, biotech development, regional and city place-branding, etc.) are especially welcome.

The Academic Conference (25-26 May 2016) will overlap with the International Medical Travel Journal’s (IMTJ) Medical Travel Summit (24-25 May 2016), which brings together governmental and industry representatives from around the world who are involved in the development of medical tourism. This will provide a unique opportunity for conference participants to attend parts of the IMTJ Summit and actively foster and engage in much-needed cross-sectoral knowledge exchange and dialogue.

To submit a paper proposal, please submit a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio via http://summit.imtj.com/academic-application/ before 11 December 2015. Scholars and researchers in any stage of their career (e.g., PhD students, etc.) are encouraged to share their studies. Successful applicants will be contacted by 8 January 2016 and will be expected to register for the conference by 12 February 2016 to secure their place in the May 2016 conference programme. For further information about the call for papers, please contact a member of the Academic Advisory Board:

·           Meghann Ormond (Wageningen Univ., The Netherlands) meghann.ormond@wur.nl

·           Neil Lunt (Univ. of York, UK) neil.lunt@york.ac.uk

·           John Connell (Univ. of Sydney, Australia) john.connell@sydney.edu.au

Conference logistics

Conference registration and fees

Information about conference registration can be found at http://summit.imtj.com/delegates. Academic rates are only available to attendees who are affiliated with an academic or research institution.

1-day access to the Academic Conference	EUR 200
2-day access to the Academic Conference	EUR 275
2-day access to the Academic Conference + 2-day access to the IMTJ Summit	EUR 400

Conference location

The Academic Conference and the IMTJ Summit will be held at Hotel Meliá Avenida América in Madrid, Spain. Information about the venue can be found at http://summit.imtj.com/venue/

Additional information

For further queries about conference logistics, please refer to http://summit.imtj.com/academic-overview/ or contact the Event Director, Sarah Ward, sarahward@imtj.com

2015-16 Lecture Series: 'Global Health: Knowledges, Dispositifs, Poli-cies/-tics', Paris, 15/10/15-14/06/16

Collège d'études mondiales

Program type :

 

Seminar

Office :

 

Le France

Person in charge :

 

Vinh-Kim Nguyen

Thursday 15 October 2015

Tuesday 14 June 2016

Financement :

 

Européens

The framing of health as a global issue over the last three decades has carved out an intellectual, economic and political space that differs from that of the post-war international public health field. This older system was characterised by disease eradication programs and by the dominance of nation states and the organisations of the United Nations. The actors, intervention targets and tools of contemporary global health contrast with previous international health efforts. The construction of markets for medical goods takes a central place in this new era, as does regulation by civil society actors. Global health can also be characterized by co-morbidities between chronic and infectious diseases, the stress on therapeutic intervention, risk management, health as an instrument of 'community' development and the deployment of new modes of surveillance and epidemiological prediction. This emerging field takes on a radically different appearance when examined at the level of its infrastructures (such as the WHO, the World Bank or the Gates Foundation) or at the level of the knowledges and anticipatory practices generated by its practices and local instantiations.

This seminar will combine historical, sociological and anthropological approaches to examine this globalized space and the assemblages that constitute it: public-private partnerships, foundations, local 'communities', cancers, 'non-communicable diseases', risk prevention, monitoring and evaluation, etc. Particular attention will be given to the infrastructures and the contemporary dynamics of knowledge production, insurance techniques and diagnostic interventions, therapeutic 'innovations' in their diverse geographies, including Africa, Asia or Latin America. These often differ widely from transfer schemes between the global north and the global south that insist on technological dependency. The seminar will examine the myriad local forms that global health takes in everyday practices.

Organized by Claire Beaudevin (CNRS-Cermes3), Fanny Chabrol (Inserm-Cermes3), Jean-Paul Gaudillière (Inserm-Cermes3), Frédéric Keck (CNRS-LAS/Musée du Quai Branly), Guillaume Lachenal (Université Paris Diderot-IUF), Vinh-Kim Nguyen (Collège d'Etudes Mondiales), Laurent Pordié (CNRS-Cermes3), Émilia Sanabria (Inserm-École Normale Supérieure de Lyon)

This lecture series is supported by the ERC project « From International Public Health to Global Health » (CERMES3, Paris & University of Oslo) and the chair for Anthropology and Global Health (Collège d’Etudes Mondiales, FMSH, Paris).

For updated practical information : http://www.ehess.fr/fr/enseignement/enseignements/2015/ue/969/

Event: Upcoming academic conference 'Medical tourism: Time for a check-up?' in association with the 2016 IMTJ Medical Travel Summit, Madrid, Spain, 25-26 May 2016

The inaugural IMTJ Academic Conference -- which runs from 25-26 May 2016, in Madrid, Spain -- will provide a rare opportunity for academics and researchers from around the globe to share their knowledge and research in the developing medical travel sector. It will overlap with the IMTJ Medical Travel Summit, which concentrates on the commercial and business aspects of the medical travel sector, and runs from 24-26 May 2016. 

Delegates may register for the Academic Conference, alone, or purchase a combined delegate pass for the Summit and Academic Conference. Reduced rates are offered  for any delegate from an academic or research institution.

The agenda for the Academic Conference is being put together by an Advisory Board consisting of:

• Dr Meghann Ormond, Assistant Professor of Cultural Geography at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
• Dr Neil Lunt, Reader, Social Policy and Public Sector Management at the University of York in England.
• Professor John Connell, Professor of Human Geography at the University of Sydney in Australia.

Submission of Academic Papers

The call for papers for the Academic Conference will soon be made available. If you wish to submit a paper for consideration for the Academic Conference, please complete the submission form. Proposals must be submitted by November 30th 2015.

New article in Healthcare Asia Magazine: 'The market next door: No need to look farther for Asian medical tourism'

Some of my reflections on medical tourism development and intra-regional medical travel in Asia were published in the July-October 2015 edition of Healthcare Asia Magazine: 
http://issuu.com/charlton_media/docs/healthcareasia_july-oct2015/c/scrnbcm

Event: International Health and Wealth Conference, 15-17 Oct. 2015, Algarve, Portugal

The IHW Conference (http://www.ihw-conference.com/) is a unique, independent networking event connecting industries and business linked to Health & Wealth, one of the world´s most prosperous and developing cross-section markets in the 21st century.

 

Experts from more than 15 countries vitalize debate, research and international networking.

Smart Ageing and Silver Economy are on schedule – synonyms for innovation, double-digit growth and new market opportunities. What are the needs and preferences of “Generation 55+”?

 

Modern Care Solutions are required globally, across borders, especially from European citizens. What can be done ? What is feasible and affordable ? Can corporate finance and private equity accelerate destination-driven solutions ? And how affects the social and political framework ?

 

Medical Tourism is highly trendy, competition is huge. What are the most relevant contemporary issues ? New destinations, new services, new market players ?

 

Finally, the future of Tourism gets strongly touched by global mobility and Health & Wealth.

How destinations such as the Algarve is able to add value and create an individual USP ? Is it in line with the interest of the elderly generation, and its habits, with regard to wealth and retirement management ? 

 

Additionally, IHW will schedule breakout sessions and an interactive workshop about Medical Tourism and its cross-sectoral influence.