World Trade Organization, Centre William Rappard, Geneva, Switzerland.
Bull World Health Organ. 2011 Jan 1;89(1):68-72. doi: 10.2471/BLT.10.076612. Epub 2010 Nov 26.
In a globalizing world, public health is no longer confined to national borders. In recent years we have observed an increasing movement of patients across international borders. The full extent of this trend is yet unknown, as data are sparse and anecdotal. If this trend continues, experts are convinced that it will have major implications for public health systems around the globe. Despite the growing importance of medical travel, we still have little empirical evidence on its impact on public health, especially on health systems. This paper summarizes the most recent debates on this topic. It discusses the main forces that drive medical travel and its implications on health systems, in particular the impacts on access to health care, financing and the health workforce. This paper also offers guidance on how to define medical travel and how to improve data collection. It advocates for more scientific research that will enable countries to harness benefits and limit the potential risks to public health arising from medical travel.
在全球化的世界中，公共卫生不再局限于国界。近年来，我们观察到患者跨国界流动的情况日益增多。由于数据稀少且为传闻轶事，这一趋势的全貌尚不清楚。如果这种趋势持续下去，专家们相信，这将对全球各地的公共卫生系统产生重大影响。尽管医疗旅游的重要性日益增加，但我们对其对公共卫生的影响，特别是对卫生系统的影响，仍然缺乏经验证据。本文总结了关于这一主题的最新辩论。它讨论了推动医疗旅游的主要力量及其对卫生系统的影响，特别是对医疗保健可及性、融资和卫生人力的影响。本文还就如何定义医疗旅游以及如何改进数据收集提供了指导。它主张开展更多的科学研究，使各国能够利用医疗旅游带来的好处，并限制其对公共卫生可能产生的潜在风险。
