Abstract

Diplomacy, which is also regarded as an art, is closely associated with communication, representation, and negotiation. The concept of diplomacy emphasized by Henry Kissinger is considered an element of soft power. The effort of states to influence foreign publics rather than official representatives is explained through the concept of public diplomacy. Among public diplomacy practices, health diplomacy has gained increasing importance due to global pandemics and international emergencies. As a component of health governance, health diplomacy essentially involves cooperation on global health issues. Health tourism refers to cross-border travel undertaken for medical or health-related purposes. Health-related tourism intersects with health diplomacy in various ways. This study aims to systematically review the relationship between health diplomacy and health tourism. Additionally, the study aims to identify key points that warrant attention from a health management perspective. For this purpose, the keywords 'health diplomacy' and 'health tourism' were searched in various databases, including Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, Medline, PubMed, and Emerald Insight Premier eJournal. The research methodology was guided by the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) checklist. The findings indicate that health tourism contributes to strengthening health diplomacy. Based on the country examples provided, it was determined that health-related initiatives facilitate international cooperation and, accordingly, positively impact health diplomacy.

Key words: Global health diplomacy, health tourism, public diplomacy, health policy