Crowdfunding for Complementary and Alternative Cancer Treatments in Tijuana, Mexico: Content Analysis

Complementary and alternative (CAM) cancer treatment is often expensive and not covered by insurance. As a result, many people turn to crowdfunding to access this treatment.

The aim of this study is to identify the rationales of patients with cancer seeking CAM treatment abroad by looking specifically at crowdfunding campaigns to support CAM cancer treatment in Tijuana, Mexico.

We scraped the GoFundMe.com and GiveSendGo.com crowdfunding platforms for campaigns referencing CAM cancer clinics in Tijuana, initiated between January 1, 2022, and February 28, 2023. The authors created a coding framework to identify rationales for seeking CAM treatment in Tijuana. To supplement campaign metadata, we coded the beneficiary's cancer stage, type, age, specific treatment sought, whether the beneficiary died, gender, and race.

Patients sought CAM cancer treatment in Tijuana because the (1) treatment offers the greatest efficacy (29.9%); (2) treatment offered domestically was not curative (23.2%); (3) the clinic treats the whole person, and addresses the spiritual dimension of the person (20.1%); (4) treatments are nontoxic, natural, or less invasive (18.2%); and (5) clinic offers the newest technology (8.5%). Campaigns raised US $5,275,268.37 and most campaign beneficiaries were women (69.7%) or White individuals (71.1%).

These campaigns spread problematic misinformation about the likely efficacy of CAM treatments, funnel money and endorsements to CAM clinics in Tijuana, and leave many campaigners short of the money needed to pay for CAM treatments while costing beneficiaries and their loved one's time, privacy, and dignity. This study affirms that Tijuana, Mexico, is a very popular destination for CAM cancer treatment.