ArticleTropical diseases, travel medicine and vaccines2017
More harm than good? The questionable ethics of medical volunteering and international student placements.
Article in Tropical diseases, travel medicine and vaccines, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Ethical Guidance for Medical Schools and Medical Students in High-Income Countries for Clinical Electives in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.Perspectives on medical education · 2026Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Patient Education Strategies for Oncology Patients in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.The oncologist · 2023Pooled it
- A Multidimensional Assessment of the Impact of Healthcare Volunteering in a War-Affected Setting.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2026Article
- Improving the Ethical Permissibility of Medical Electives in Lower-Resource Settings.Developing world bioethics · 2026Article
- Addressing Cleft Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries Beyond Cleft Lip and Palate with Improvement of Otolaryngology, Audiology, and Speech Services.The Cleft palate-craniofacial journal : official publication of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association · 2026Article
- Back home, beyond borders: a bioecological study of returnee public health scholars in a globalized health system.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- "We will get to…assist the staff of the hospital": comparatively exploring the motivations of pre-medical and medical students from Global North countries for seeking to participate in Ghanaian medical missions.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Improving medical missions: A student and trainee tool for ethical engagement.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Host Country Views of Short-Term Medical Missions: Community-Based Research in Ghana, Uganda, and Guatemala.Annals of global health · 2026Article
- Surgical case patterns and procedures performed in patients attending the Aloha Medical Mission in Nepal: a cross-sectional study.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2025Article
- Virtue Ethics in a Value-driven World: "Voluntourism" and Effective Altruism.Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2025Article
- Promoting More Equitable Global Health Research, Education, and Community Partnerships: The Efforts of One US‑Based Academic Institution.Annals of global health · 2025Article
- Article
- Broadening relevance and representation in global health medical education research: centring context, content, and voice.Canadian medical education journal · 2024Article
- Teaching Scottish medical students about global health in partnership with LMIC institutions. Does it change their views on volunteering in LMIC settings?BMC medical education · 2024Article
- Local people's perceptions of international clinical placements in low- and middle-income countries: A literature review.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2023Review
- Health practitioner regulation and national health goals.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2023Article
- The impact of global health outreach experiences on medical student burnout.BMC medical education · 2023Article
- A pragmatic approach to equitable global health partnerships in academic health sciences.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Enablers and Barriers of Healthcare Services for Community-Dwelling Elderly in Rural Indonesia: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis: Facilitadores e barreiras dos serviços de saúde para os idosos das comunidades nas zonas rurais da Indonésia: uma síntese qualitativa das provas.Portuguese journal of public health · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
It has been argued that much of international medical volunteering is done for the wrong reasons, in that local people serve as a means to meet volunteers' needs, or for the right reasons but ignorance and ill-preparedness harm the intended beneficiaries, often without volunteers' grasp of the damage caused. The literature on ethical concerns in medical volunteering has grown tremendously over the last years highlighting the need for appropriate guidelines. These same concerns, however, and an appreciation of the reasons why current aid paradigms are flawed, can serve as indicators on how to change existing practices to ensure a better outcome for those who are in need of help. Such paradigm change envisages medical assistance in the spirit of solidarity, social justice, equality, and collegial collaboration.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.