Join Alisi in her journey to make sure her daughter Mereoni receives prenatal care in Lautoka, the second largest city in Fiji.

In a country now promoting medical tourism, healthcare is far from reach. These hard-working women find themselves travelling for hours to get to healthcare facilities now that the hospital in their neighbourhood, once publicly funded, has been turned into a public-private partnership-managed facility.

Fiji entered into its first health public-private partnership (PPP) with an Australian medical firm, Aspen Medical, in order to re-develop the Ba Hospital, and construct a new wing in the Lautoka Hospital. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, played a key advisory role to the Fijian government and facilitated the establishment of the first health PPP in a Pacific Island country. “Luxury Destination” unveils how neoliberal global trends in healthcare financing are impacting women’s lives even in a country that once had a strong public healthcare system.

This animation is based on the case study “Public-private partnerships: are they a healthy investment model? Lautoka and Ba Hospitals in Fiji” by researcher Lice Cokanasiga from the Pacific Network on Globalisation. The film and the article are part of DAWN’s multimedia project “Old Dog, New Tricks: Neocolonialism & Public-Private Partnerships in the global South”, highlighting PPPs’ effects on women’s lives.