Traveling is certainly entertaining &
enlightening experience. However, traveling
long distances to alien lands carries its
own difficulties. The two aspects of health
concerns during a travel are:
(1) sudden and significant changes
in altitude, humidity, microbes and
temperature.
(2) health risks due to poor hygiene
and sanitation & unavailability of medical
services.
All people
planning travel should become informed about
the potential hazards of the countries they
are traveling to and learn how to minimize
any risk to their health. The main points
all travelers should consider is:
1. Understand health risks
2. Learn personal preventative measures you
may need while traveling
3. Know what vaccines to get and when to get
them
4. Mode of travel: health considerations
5. Environmental health risks
6. Injuries and violence
7. Infectious diseases of potential risk for
travelers
8. Vaccine-preventable diseases and vaccines
9. Exposure to blood or other body fluids
A recent WHO report says that contrary to
the general fear among some travelers of
catching some “exotic diseases”, most of the
serious medical conditions result from
injuries due to the unforeseen natural &
social conditions, as well as reckless
activities on the part of the travelers
themselves.
