Safe and healthy travel
All travellers should prepare themselves properly before travel. Being prepared means helping to ensure a safe and healthy, as well as happy, trip.
Good preparation starts in good time, and includes consideration of general health issues - allow six weeks before your trip to begin your health preparation.
General advice may include information about:
- information about eating and drinking safely
- insect avoidance
- safe sex
- potential for accidents
- care with medications and drugs
- blood-borne diseases, and
- managing common medical problems.
Common hazards for travellers varies from place to place, but may include both infectious diseases and non-infectious hazards. Information about specific diseases is important, and malaria, dengue fever, schistosomiasis (a disease caused by parasitic worms) and Yellow Fever are all important depending on the specific destination. Current information, vaccination and medications for influenza complement good and comprehensive travel health preparation.
Malaria is a potentially fatal disease for which preventive medications may be required, and the choice of medication will vary according to the amount of transmission at the destination, the degree of resistance to drugs of the disease in that area, the potential side-effects of the medication, and the medical history of the traveller.
Travellers with higher risk of illness with a special need for good advice may include children, pregnant women, people with chronic systemic disease, and those with impaired immune systems.
Modern vaccines are available for many specific infectious disease and are safe and side-effect free. Many will induce life-long immunity. Typical traveller's vaccines include those for hepatitis A and B, typhoid, rabies, meningitis, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis and cholera.
Personalised medical kits are a crucial part of good planning. These kits contain prescription medication to treat common travellers illness, and come complete with instructions, and authorisation.
It is strongly advised that you visit your travel health specialists, the Travel Doctor-TMVC, in a place near you, to get the most up-to-date advice and information about staying healthy on your travels to particular destinations.
