Medical tourism
Kozlova Liudmyla Mykolaiv, Ukraine Doctor with stethoscope and globe in his hand. Photo by Jernej Furman. Via Flickr. CC BY 2.0. Medical tourism is a highly profitable industry that offers a range of medical procedures, highly specialized medical services, and tourism opportunities. It combines travel for health and medical services with recreational tourism. While […]
The navel of the world: belly buttons, innies and outies
John Raffensperger Fort Meyers, Florida, United States Rounded stones near Ahu Te Pito Kura on the north-eastern coast of Easter Island. Thought to symbolize the “center of the world” to the culture of the Polynesian people who first arrived at the island. 2013. Photo by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen. Via Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0 In […]
Traditional medicine in Yang Talat district, Isaan, Thailand
Khwan Phusrisom Baan Dong Bang, Thailand & UK Fig 1. Baan Dong Bang village, Yang Talat district, and surroundings. Isaan is northeast Thailand, wedged between Laos and Cambodia. I grew up there, in Yang Talat district, (Fig 1) in the Baan Dong Bang village headman’s teak house, where I saw traditional medicine in use […]
Dead Sea: health claims and tourist delights
After the death of Alexander the Great, the land now comprising Israel and Jordan fell under the successive domination of the Seleucid kings, Rome, Arabs, Ottoman Turks, and the British empire. Lying in almost the center of that area is the Dead Sea. It is actually not a sea but rather a salt-water lake, and […]
The Emberá of Panama
L. J. Sandlow George Dunea Chicago, Illinois, United States The Emberá are an indigenous people who live near the Panama-Columbia border. There are about 33,000 living in Darién, Panama, and 50,000 in Colombia. Until 1960 most lived in extended family settlements along the rivers. Since the 60s many have moved together into small villages, […]
Budapest: medicine and paprika
L. J. Sandlow George Dunea Chicago, Illinois, United States The Magyars, ancestors of modern Hungarians, came from the region of the Ural Mountains and invaded Europe around AD 800. Crossing the Carpathian Mountains, they conquered the Pannonian plain and established a large and important medieval kingdom. In 1526 they were defeated at the decisive […]
Ephesus and its renowned physicians
L. J. Sandlow George Dunea Chicago, Illinois, United States To visit the extensive ruins of Ephesus is to step back into the beginnings of history. The city had been founded by Ionian Greek colonists in the tenth century BC. It prevailed after an early turbulent history and was prospered initially as an independent city-state. […]
Asclepius at Epidaurus
L. J. Sandlow George Dunea Chicago, Illinois, United States An Athenian seeking a cure for his afflictions in the fourth century BC had the option of visiting several competing sanctuaries, at Delphi, Olympia, or Epidaurus. To reach Epidaurus, the Athenian would bypass Megara and Corinth, then turn south and find himself at the shrine […]
The hospital that treated patients with music
L. J. Sandlow Chicago, Illinois, United States High up in the mountains of Anatolia, bordering the Black Sea, lies the ancient hospital of Bimarhane or Darüşşida. Located in the city of Amasya, it was built during the reign of the Ilkanid Sultan Mehmet and his wife Uduz Olcaytu Anbar and constructed by Babe Bin […]
The Bengal tiger: Panthera tigris tigris
James L. Franklin Chicago, Illinois, United States The Indian subcontinent for millennia provided the ideal “jungle” habitat for the tiger. When the first Europeans arrived in India the animal was ubiquitous. At the close of the nineteenth century, when Kipling wrote The Jungle Books, 100,000 tigers were thought to roam the subcontinent. By […]