Having access to high-quality healthcare is a priority issue for European citizens and is recognised by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. The right to healthcare also encompasses situations where patients travel from one EU Member State to another and receive treatment there. This paper will explore the contradictory relation between the competence of EU Member States to regulate the...

This paper discusses whether European institutions should devote so much attention and funding to cross-border healthcare or they should instead prioritise guaranteeing universal health coverage (UHC), inequalities and tackling the effects of austerity measures. The paper argues through providing the evidence in both areas of research, that the priority at European level from a public health an...

Introduction International borders present unique challenges for the surveillance of infectious disease. Border communities represent locations with vast differences in cultures and languages, governing institutions, healthcare access, and priorities for the collection and surveillance of disease data. Pathogens and the health and security risks they create do not respect geographical and polit...

South Africa (SA), like the rest of the Southern African Development Community, has a high prevalence of communicable diseases, an increasing non-communicable disease burden, and diverse internal and cross-border population movements. Healthy migration is good for development, but current prevention, testing and treatment responses within public health systems - particularly for chronic conditi...

The US-Mexico border witnesses frequent cross-border travels for educational, recreational, healthcare, and work purposes, with millions of passenger commercial vehicles crossing the international each year. In 2020, pandemic-related travel restrictions were applied to non-US citizens at reshaped trips. Using crowdsourced data, we explored mobility changes that COVID-19 pandemic brought second-...

BACKGROUND Anecdotal evidence suggests that many organised initiatives for cross-border collaboration in healthcare in border regions originate from the need for women to give birth close to home. Despite this, there is remarkably little research on these practices and the specific modes of collaboration between providers and experiences and needs of these women. In this paper we describe the e...

BACKGROUND Studies from the USA, New Zealand and Denmark suggest that many ethnic minority citizens obtain healthcare in their country of origin. Their reasons for doing so and the possible consequences remain unclear. METHODS We used data from the Healthy Life in an Urban Setting study to investigate the magnitude, types, self-reported reasons and determinants of past-year healthcare consump...

In 2006 and 2007, a large outbreak of Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) with PCR-ribotype 027 was identified in northern France. Overall, 38 healthcare facilities notified 529 CDIs over a 22-month period, including 281 laboratory-confirmed CDI 027 and 248 non-confirmed CDI 027 cases (incidence rate per 10,000 elective bed days: 1.63, range: 0.07 to 7.94). The cases occurred mainly in long...

BACKGROUND Countries are well advised to prepare for future pandemic risks (e.g., pandemic influenza, novel emerging agents or synthetic bioweapons). These preparations do not typically include planning for complete border closure. Even though border closure may not be instituted in time, and can fail, there might still plausible chances of success for well organized island nations. OBJECTIVE...