title: Africa's middle class women bring entrepreneurial opportunities in breast care medical tourism to South Africa.
abstract: Africa's distribution of specialized private health services is severely disproportionate. Mismatch between South Africa's excess supply and a huge demand potential in an under-serviced continent represents an entrepreneurial opportunity to attract patients to South Africa for treatment and recuperative holidays. However, effective demand for intra-African medical tourism could be constrained by sub-Saharan poverty. Results from interviewing 320 patients and five staff at the Johannesburg Breast care Centre of Excellence, however, reject this proposition, Africa's middle class women being the target market estimated to grow annually by one million while breast cancer incidence increases with middle-class lifestyles. Uncovering this potential involves an extensive marketing strategy.
authors.affiliation: University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) Business School, St David's Place, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa. Frederick.Ahwireng-Obeng@wits.ac.za
authors.forename: Frederick
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ahwireng-Obeng
authors.forename: Charl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Loggerenberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D003657:Decision Making; D016520:Entrepreneurship / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D057193:Medical Tourism; D008875:Middle Aged; D012923:Social Class; D013019:South Africa