Dementia care is being outsourced to Thailand from Germany, Switzerland, North America and the United Kingdom.
Prof. Geraldine Pratt, in collaboration with Dr. Caleb Johnston at the University of Newcastle, has been exploring the pressures that make people decide to send their loved ones to the other side of the world, and the experiences of the Thai staff who care for them.
Their ongoing research has been highlighted this week in The Guardian.
In 2019, they also worked with Costa Compagnie, a Berlin-based artistic collective, to translate some of this work into a performance piece that was staged for audiences in Berlin, Germany and Newcastle, UK in November.
Their hope, in sharing their research in this way, has been to bring the perspectives of caregivers, families, and those in need of care to a wider audience, and to generate a conversation around the movement of dementia care to the global south.
