Healing Beyond Borders: Health Tourism and Its Reflections on Women's Health

Memiş K. N., Kır E.

12. Uluslararası 16. Ulusal Ebelik Öğrenci Kongresi, Karabük, Turkey, 14 - 16 May 2026, pp.27-29, (Summary Text)

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Summary Text
  • City: Karabük
  • Country: Turkey
  • Page Numbers: pp.27-29
  • Yozgat Bozok University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Health tourism is a globally accelerating multidisciplinary sector encompassing reproductive health services, birth tourism, assisted reproductive techniques, and advanced gynecological interventions. Women are turning to cross-border health solutions due to push factors such as legal restrictions, high costs, long waiting periods, and privacy concerns in their own countries. While this dynamic process plays an empowering role on women's health by increasing access to treatment, it also brings complex issues such as risks of medical complications, ethical dilemmas, and legal uncertainties.

Midwives, who are at the center of this global mobility, must redefine their professional roles while providing care to women from different cultural backgrounds. Cultural awareness, sensitivity, and competence are the fundamental elements determining the quality of care provided in this process. The most significant barrier faced by midwives, language barrier, necessitates the ability to communicate effectively in at least one foreign language and professional foreign language proficiency.

The discipline of midwifery should not be limited solely to clinical care within the context of health tourism. It must actively undertake counseling and advocacy roles in pre-travel preparation, legal legislation analysis in the destination country, and post-return "continuity of care" processes. In light of these requirements, enriching midwifery education curricula with courses such as health tourism, intercultural midwifery, and international reproductive health law is important for carrying professional vision to global standards.

In conclusion, minimizing the risks of health tourism on women's health and optimizing its outcomes depend on midwives positioning themselves as culturally competent and well-equipped professionals in light of ethical principles. In this context, the midwifery approach in health tourism should not be viewed merely as a medical service. Rather, it is a unique field of expertise that must be addressed within the framework of women's rights and safe care.

The aim of this review is to comprehensively examine the reflections of health tourism on women's health and to discuss the professional roles, responsibilities, and competencies that midwives need to undertake within this global mobility, in the light of scientific literature.