Caring across borders: The politics of belonging and transnational health

Abstract

Health care supply, demand and responsibility are increasingly becoming transnational. More people seek care beyond state borders, while, at the same time, most health systems are still nationally organized. Though most of socio-anthropological literature focuses on “health tourism”, this article considers migrants’ health travels at the junction between the neoliberal framework of global health and politics of belonging. It explores the transnational medical trajectories of Moroccans and Ecuadorians living in Italy to take care of family/reproductive health. On one hand, parents’ transnational practices are influenced by “situations of belonging” – or not belonging – that they experience in Italy, including in medical encounters. On the other hand, migrants enact tactics to navigate the neoliberal framework of care. The article highlights the need for the development of a transnational framework to regulate the increasing transnational dimension of healthcare able to mitigate (rather than increase) economic and social gaps between states.