The Foreign Service Journal, December 2004

and knee replacements, coronary bypass operations, etc. — at a fraction of their cost in the U.K. This would dramatically reduce the long waiting lines as well as costs for the British National Health Service, and at the same time allow India to earn more than $1 billion annually and create some 40 million new jobs. India and, soon, the Philippines, are competing with already estab- lished Asian medical tourism sites like Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. The medical tourism business — which combines health care services with a holiday in one attractive pack- age — also counts Jordan, Israel, Lithuania, South Africa, Costa Rica and others among its active promoters. It is a new boom industry. Actually, of course, medical tourism is thousands of years old, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation points out in an informative background feature ( http://www.cbc.ca/news/back ground / hea l thcare /med i ca l tourism.html ). I n ancient Greece, pilgrims and patients came from all over to visit the home of the healing god, Asklepios, at Epidaurus. In Roman-era Britain, the waters at Bath were a destination for patients for thousands of years. And beginning in the 18th century, wealthy Europeans traveled to spas from Germany to the Nile. Today, relatively low-cost jet air travel and globalization have opened this business to a mass market. — David Coddon, Editorial Intern Click for Medical Information You Can Use New discoveries in medicine occur every day. From new breakthroughs in heart disease and osteoporosis pre- vention to AIDS vaccine development and advancements in the search for a cure to cancer, the flurry of informa- tion on important health issues is sometimes difficult to keep up with. To match this flood of new knowledge is an equally substantial burst of new self-help medical Web sites. While these Web sites should not be used as a substitute for consultation with a doctor or other health-care pro- fessional, they offer a good basis for investigating everything from basic family health concerns to the latest news on the cutting edge of medical technology. In addition to many of the Web sites highlighted in the May 2003 edition of Cybernotes, several sources of information on health and medicine stand out. The American Academy of Family Physicians provides basic information about everyday family medical con- cerns such as flu shots, asthma and hair loss at Family Doctor ( www.fam ilydoctor.org ). S imilarly, Medicine- Net ( www.medicinenet.com ) p ro- vides a valuable comprehensive guide for users to search for information not only about “Diseases and Conditions” but about “Symptoms and Signs” as well. AllRefer Health ( www.health. allrefer.com ) i ncludes a section where readers can learn about what particular surgeries entail. It also offers a 4,000-term medical encyclo- pedia. Of particular interest to senior citi- zens and those with questions about medications is MedlinePlus ( www. medlineplus.gov ), a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health. Under “Drug Information” users can investi- gate the ingredients of and user guide- lines for prescriptions and over-the- counter medications. Med Help International ( www. medhelp.org ) is a nonprofit organiza- tion which began operating in 1994. The organization began providing a forum in 1997 for users to ask their specific questions of medical experts in a format which allowed others to learn from their concerns. For a self-guided search of medical information, HealthWeb ( www. healthweb.org ) off ers a good index of searchable topics that can help steer users to the Web sites of specialty organizations. HealthWeb is a collab- orative project of more than 20 health D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 13 C YBERNOTES 50 Years Ago... On quick glance there would seem to be little connection between fine arts and foreign relations; yet there have been historical instances — often at a crucial time of adjustment following an upheaval such as war — when the two have been curiously intertwined. — Car Charlik, in “Fine Arts of Foreign Policy,” FSJ , December 1954.