Borders and Health Equity
Countries have long used border regulation to control transnational mobility in the name of public health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this logic was especially visible, as borders hardened and mobility was curtailed to limit the spread of disease. While such measures can play a role in managing emerging health threats, they are vulnerable to being shaped by racialized and xenophobic assumptions and have often produced unequal and harmful effects. At the same time, borders can also be selectively opened in the name of health. Countries, including many in the Global South, sometimes facilitate the entry of certain foreign nationals seeking health care services (often called "medical tourists") in order to promote trade through private health care markets. By examining these two sets of dynamics alongside each other, my work interrogates how border regulation structures access to care and shape health equity.
