Healthy Travel Matters
Your destination may change, but your health shouldn't suffer
If you are looking at travelling internationally, you are not alone. With 1.2 billion international tourist arrivals in 2016, the number of tourists is only expected to increase. According to the World Tourism Organization, the last 7 years have shown consistent above-average growth in international tourist arrivals and is estimated to reach 1.8 billion by 2030 - that’s a lot of people!
Spanning all age ranges and including a variety of pre-existing health conditions, travelers are a diverse group of people, coming and going from countries equally as diverse. Risks vary greatly, with new diseases emerging and re-emerging constantly and quality healthcare no guarantee. Travel to destinations in Asia and the Middle East is on the rise, putting more travelers at risk for diseases like malaria, dengue, and other tropical infections.
With modern technology and air travel, people are going further and faster than ever before, often bringing diseases back to their home country before even realizing they are ill. You simply have to look at the recent spread of the Zika virus and the ramifications this brings to see why healthy travel matters. You can help stop the spread of disease, and protect not only your health but that of your community by taking health into account before your next travels.
When look at travel health guidelines, one of the first things you might notice is that they vary drastically! With a multitude of national, international, and professional organizations all publishing different recommendations it can quickly become confusing and difficult to know if you have gotten the right information.
Why do guidelines differ?
Coming from a variety of sources, guidelines must be reviewed and approved by various regulatory agencies. With different countries each having their own regulations and laws, guidelines change based on differences in clinical practice guidelines, product availability, perceived risk, and different expert opinions. Due to various standards for licensure, you may find that what is approved in your home country is not approved in another and vice versa - all contributing to the publication of different guidelines.
To find the right guidelines for yourself, I recommend visiting your primary care physician or a local travel clinic. They can provide you with the most accurate information for your own country, and those you plan to visit. You can check out the International Society of Travel Medicine's Global Clinic Directory to find a travel clinic near you.
Other sources of health information that I recommend and use myself include the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Both provide a wealth of valuable information, from travel health notices to destination specific guides, that can help you prepare for your next trip.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
The World Health Organization, or WHO, is an organization working in over 150 countries to build a healthier future for people all around the world. Working to coordinate international health and combat diseases, the WHO works with multiple governments and partners in areas such as disease surveillance, preparedness, and response.
They also play a regulatory role in the the International Health Regulations (IHR), an agreement between 196 countries, including all members of the WHO, to detect, assess, and report public health events. This includes a Global Health Observatory, providing data and statistics and a wealth of information on specific risks, global alerts and response.
If you are looking for public health information, or disease outbreak news, the WHO is the place to look: http://www.who.int/ihr/en/
CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL (CDC)
The Center for Disease Control, or CDC, is a component of the US Department of Health and Human Services with the goal of “saving lives, protecting people”. Working all around the world, the CDC participates greatly in global health and is an excellent resource for monitoring disease outbreaks, seeing travel notices, and finding health clinics. See their role in global health here: https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/index.html
For clinicians, the CDC publishes the Yellow Book: Health Information for International Travel. Updated every two years, the “Yellow Book” is intended to be a comprehensive resource for finding answers to travel health-related questions, and is a frequent source of information that I use for my own travels. You can find the 2018 version here.
For the general public, the CDC provides a destination based guide and a couple of useful mobile apps that are user friendly and free of clinical jargon.
Destination Guide: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list/
Use this guide to find specific health information for the destinations you are visiting, including vaccinations and general health tips. With both a traveler’s view and clinician’s view this can also be very useful for healthcare professionals.
Mobile Apps: The CDC currently has two mobile apps available - the TravWell app and the Can I Eat This? app. Both apps can be downloaded in the app store, or seen here: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/apps-about
The TravWell app assists with planning, allowing you to create a trip with destination specific recommendations, a packing list, and a place to store travel documents and immunizations.
The Can I Eat This? app does exactly what the name suggests and provides a guideline for what foods you should and should not eat. Simply answer a few questions to see if your next meal is safe.
All of this can be a lot of information to take in. If you are looking for a more personal approach to travel health, check out my blog. I’m sharing what I learn about health, and my own observations and recommendations as I travel around the world. I’m creating destination specific guides as I go, so check back frequently to see where I’m at and find personal recommendations you can use for your own travels.
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Where I'm exploring the intersection of health and travel