On the quest for “medical home”: diasporic healthcare arrangements of Tunisians residing abroad

Carole Wenger’s research examines the transnational healthcare strategies of Tunisian migrants, focusing on the barriers and opportunities they encounter in accessing healthcare both in their countries of origin and residence. The study highlights how migrants navigate healthcare systems by mobilizing resources across borders, shaped by their medical needs, preferences, and perceptions of care in both contexts. A key finding of the study is the role of social networks as vital healthcare resources, demonstrating how interpersonal connections help migrants access care and address gaps in the healthcare system. Wenger’s focuses in particular on “diasporic medical returns” where migrants return to their country of emigration, Tunisia, to seek treatment, bypassing healthcare barriers in their countries of residence, like long waiting times, limited access to doctors, and discrimination in medical services. This phenomenon reveals how migrants leverage transnational healthcare strategies to meet their needs.

In addition to her primary research, Wenger co-authored a paper on the ethical issues surrounding informed consent in ethnographic research. Published in the International Journal of Qualitative Method, the paper entitled ““Ethics Ready”? Governing Research Through Informed Consent Procedures” explores the ethical considerations emerging from fieldwork as well as questions that arose from the application of ethical requirements imposed by the ERC. The paper argues that —while informed consent procedures might reinforce participants’ vulnerabilities— they can also activate their desire to assert power and calls for a redefinition of the relationships between institutions, researchers and participants through a co-construction of research ethics.

Wenger also explored the medical mobilities of Tunisians living abroad who return to Tunisia for assisted reproductive technologies (ART). She identified the factors influencing couples’ decisions to undergo ART in their country of origin, such as cultural intimacy, moral trust in healthcare providers, medical patriotism, and the comparative costs and legal frameworks between their country of residence and emigration. This part of her research which was published in a book chapter on cross-border reproductive care in the Maghreb (see Wenger Carole, 2024, « “Chez — soi” pour procréer: l’exemple des “retours reproductifs” des tunisiens résidents à l’étranger », in Betty Rouland et Irene Maffi (dir.), Soins transfrontaliers en santé reproductive au Maghreb: Un paysage reproductif en devenir? Karthala, Paris.) highlights how couples take advantage of the disparities between the countries’ healthcare systems to access reproductive services that may be more affordable and aligned with their values and expectations.

A further exploration of reproductive mobility was published in the journal L’année du Maghreb, where Wenger, alongside colleagues Irène Maffi and Betty Rouland, analyzed the evolution of private IVF clinics in Tunisia. Their paper addresses the gendered norms and stigmas surrounding infertility, illustrating how medical practices in reproductive care are influenced by older gender regimes where women are predominantly held responsible for infertility.

In the final part of her thesis, Wenger examined the role of the Tunisian diaspora during the Covid-19 crisis in Tunisia. This part of her work led to a collective publication with other members of the research team on the mobilisation of the Tunisian and Senegalese diaspora around the “right” to body repatriation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic published in the Revue européenne des migrations internationals ( See “États et diasporas face à la mort en migration: une analyse comparée des cas sénégalais et tunisien avant et pendant la pandémie de la COVID-19” published in the Revue européenne des migrations internationals- also translated in English). The paper shows the relevance of a moral economy approach to diaspora-state of origin relations.

The full doctoral thesis can be found here.