World Health Day - Affordable Health For All

Happy World Health Day! - Affordable Healthcare for All

Hi Everyone!

Happy World Health Day! Right now, we are still going through the pandemic of the Coronavirus, but it is also World Health Day, one day a year to raise awareness/to highlight a concern of the World Health Organization (WHO). Every year World Health Day is celebrated on April 7 and this year’s theme is giving people access to healthcare without the prospect of financial hardship. The WHO asserts, following numerous studies, that “countries which invest in universal healthcare will make a sound investment in their human capital; indeed, access to a very bottom line of care and financial protection will not only truly improve someone’s health and life expectancy, but also protects countries from epidemics, reduces poverty and the risk of hunger, creates jobs, drives economic growth and enhances gender equality.” This is a very important topic and ties in with my research about childbirth around the world.

When researching for my book, I learned about birth tourism. It is a common practice for pregnant mothers to travel to foreign countries to give birth to lower the costs associated with childbirth. Sometimes it is also for citizenship, but mostly, it is to reduce healthcare costs. This tradition is especially common for pregnant women from Asia. Expectant mothers move to Canada at seven or eight months, so that they will give birth in Canada and not have to pay medical fees. After the birth, they fly back home. In Canada, mothers do not pay any fees associated with childbirth while in many Asian countries, such as Japan and in Hong Kong, specifically, healthcare costs associated with childbirth are the most expensive in the world. It is sad to imagine Asian women traveling alone to give birth in a foreign country where they may not even speak the language, simply to ensure that they can afford to give birth to a child without going into debt.

One woman who I interviewed for my book, Virginia, gave birth to her first child in the U.S. and even though, she decided on having a home birth, she remarked on how expensive it was to give birth in the U.S. and that was one of her considerations when choosing where she wanted to have her second child.

For her second child, Virginia and her husband decided they wanted to have an adventure! So they moved to beautiful Costa Rica, but lower cost of living also played a factor in their move. However, even though, it was much more affordable to give birth in Costa Rica than the United States, again it came with its emotional challenges. While it was easy to find someone to assist her with a home birth in the U.S., Virginia was not able to find anyone who would assist her for a home birth in Costa Rica. Not only that, but she quickly discovered that c-sections at hospitals were very common. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends c-sections should not exceed 10 to 15% for all births, but in Costa Rica, the percentage was at a staggering 80%. Not only that, but Virginia’s baby was breech and she could only find one doctor in the whole country who was willing to deliver a breech baby instead of performing a c-section, but if she showed up at the hospital ahead of him and they determined the baby was breech, the hospital would give her a c-section.

Better cost of living, better quality of life, cheaper healthcare, but at the expense of emotional distress!

Thankfully in many European countries healthcare is available for all and it is of extremely high quality. It is a shame that in 2020 healthcare is not affordable for all around the world and that many mothers who choose to have hospitalcare wind up in mountains of debt, even before, raising a child. Or alternatively, they take fate into their own hands to reduce costs, but end up having more drama, emotional distress, and obstacles.

I hope you will raise awareness that today is World Health Day and this year’s topic is a topic that I think we can all support: healthcare without financial hardship. Stay safe and healthy, everyone!

Comment below, do you believe in affordable healthcare for all? Were you aware of birth tourism? Were you aware how expensive childbirth is around the world? Can you imagine that flying to a foreign country and living there for several months would be cheaper than the healthcare expenses of childbirth in one’s home country? Share your thoughts below.

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