College student Park, 26, who stands 183 centimeters tall and weighs 68 kilograms, frequently hears people say that he looks like a fashion model, thanks to his well-developed physique. However, he has his share of agony. He has recently received psychiatric treatment. Though he boasts a good shape with no fat, his obsession with a lean and muscular body forced him to take exercise while eating only chicken breasts.

A sizable group in the world: approximately 30 percent of adults today value health, the environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living. They believe the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit within individuals is important to achieve full human potential.

Trailing nearly every other industry, health care is finally globalizing. Highly trained and experienced expatriate health care professionals are returning to their home countries from training in the West or are staying home to work in newly developed corporate health care delivery systems that can compete quite favorably with less-than-perfect providers in Europe and North America...

What used to be rare is now commonplace: traveling abroad to receive medical treatment, and to a developing country at that. So-called medical tourism is on the rise for everything from cardiac care to plastic surgery to hip and knee replacements...

A vacation abroad usually has Americans daydreaming about the Eiffel Tower or Venetian canals. But more and more, they now have visions of operating rooms and all the money they can save by getting a nose job in Singapore.  Medical tourism is on the rise in the U.S. People are heading to foreign soil for just about every medical procedure out there, at a fraction of the price.

Buenos Aires is a city of beautiful people where appearances are important. The men will tell you that Argentine women are the most attractive in the world; the women say much the same about the men.  But not everyone in Buenos Aires is beautiful. Gonzalo Otalora, for instance, is downright ugly, and he is not embarrassed to admit it.

They pay more, wait longer to be seen, and suffer a higher rate of medical mistakes.  Politicians often boast that the U.S. has the best health-care system in the world. Patients apparently disagree. According to a new survey published on Nov. 1 in the journal Health Affairs, a third of Americans believe the U.S. health-care system needs to be rebuilt completely--double the percentage who want a dramatic overhaul in the six other nations polled...

Many foreigners are now visiting Indian hospitals to have surgery, writes Amrit Dhillon in Delhi.

THE term "medical tourism" may have to be revised as a new type of patient is admitted for treatment at India's top private hospitals. Previously, visitors overwhelmingly came for cosmetic treatment or dental work.