Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Medical Tourism in the Caribbean Region

Insights, Impacts, and Implications

  • Book
  • May 2025

Overview

Authors:
  1. Valorie Crooks

    1. Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University Department of Geography, BURNABY, Canada

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Discusses medical tourism in the Caribbean in more detail than in any other book
  • Describes the regional competitions, movements and network impacts between the different Caribbean Islands in a health care context
  • Identifies the winners and losers of the rise of medical tourism in the Caribbean, as well as the complex lessons learned when medical tourism booms in developing countries

Part of the book series: Global Perspectives on Health Geography (GPHG)

Buy print copy

Keywords

  • Medical tourism
  • Regional competition in the Caribbean
  • Medical care demands
  • Attractants for patients
  • Developing destination countries
  • Global health care mobilities
  • Networks of impact
  • Offshore medical schools
  • Medical Geography

About this book

In this book, readers will learn learn about the equity and ethical issues associated with the practice of medical tourism in the Caribbean. Never before has a book discussed medical tourism with an exclusive focus on the opportunities and challenges it poses in the Caribbean region. As a region heavily dependent on tourism for economic sustainability, many Caribbean nations are looking to diversify their tourism sectors through involvement in medical tourism. In nine chapters, the book examines medical tourism through the lens of the Caribbean region to understand how and why this offshoring sector is unfolding in the way is and to consider who benefits from and is harmed by this global health services practice. 



This book is based on the author's first-hand research throughout the Caribbean region. The chapters are framed around specific insights she has gleaned about how medical tourism is unfolding in the region and its ethical and implications. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the global health services practice of medical tourism, and briefly introduces readers to the Caribbean region. Chapter 2 offers criticisms about the reliability of the information made available about medical tourism, not just in the Caribbean but also globally. Chapters 3 through 7 examine the complexities associated with competition between countries, the movement of locals and tourists between islands, the intersection of medical tourism and mobilities such as offshore medical schools, and the networks of impact resulting from the rise of medical tourism. Chapters 8 and 9 introduce the idea that there are 'winners' and 'losers' associated with medical tourism throughout the Caribbean region and that there is complexity with determining who falls into which group. This book will be of interest to students, academics, researchers, and policy makers involved with medical geography, global health, and health policy. 

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University Department of Geography, BURNABY, Canada

    Valorie Crooks

About the author

Dr. Valorie Crooks is a Professor in the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University, where she has worked since 2006. She received her bachelor's degree from The University of Western Ontario in 1999, her Masters in Geography from McMaster University in 2001, and her PhD in Geography from McMaster University in 2005. She is a health geographer who specializes in health services research. She holds the Canada Research Chair in Health Service Geographies and a Scholar Award from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

Bibliographic Information

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation