Work in Other Countries

One focus is on health care systems in Central and Eastern Europe. I conducted research in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria for a series in the German medical journal "Deutsches Ärzteblatt". Talking to government officials, hospital directors, outpatient doctors, directors of private health clinics and of former communist outpatient clinics, and to representatives of local medical boards, I discovered why the process of transformation in the former centralist states is making slow progress.

My detailed insights into the Central and Eastern European health care systems are now being complemented by systemic knowledge about a largely underdeveloped giant: Russia. In the course of my public relations work for the Koch-Mechnikov Forum, I am able to deepen my knowledge of the Russian system by traveling to Moscow and Novosibirsk.

Another focus is on health care systems in Asia. During a press trip organized by the association of journalists "journalists.network" in late 2005, I investigated the Chinese health care system and the influence of energy policy on the health of the Chinese population. In spring 2007, I explored the subject of medical tourism during my stay in the Philippines. In fall 2008, a two-month grant for journalists from International Journalist Programs allowed me to analyze the transformation of the Vietnamese health care system. In the late summer and fall of 2009, I returned to the Philippines for further in-depth study of the subject of medical tourism in Asia. This trip was made possible by a research grant from the Heinz Kühn Foundation. In addition, I taught "Health Journalism" at the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center for Journalism at Ateneo de Manila University.