Everyone knows that planning a trip abroad involves passports, traveller's cheques, clothes and luggage. But there is another important component that is often forgotten...Health!
Are vaccinations required or recommended for the country to which you are travelling? What are the health risks?
Travel Health Clinics provide vaccinations and health counselling for travellers.
| Contact a local international travel health clinic |
| Obtain information about health risks for your area of travel from the clinic |
| Appointments are necessary at most travel clinics |
| Book well in advance of your departure as some vaccinations may require a series of injections |
| There is often a service and vaccination fee |
Your regional health authority or the yellow pages should have a listing of travel health clinics in your area.
The Health Canada Website: http://www.travelhealth.gc.ca has a list of addresses and phone numbers of travel clinics across Canada.
Counselling
Preventative Health Care
| Reducing the risk of traveller's diarrhea |
| Managing a traveller's diarrhea when it does occur |
| Mosquito and other insect protection |
| Sun safety |
| Altitude sickness |
| Sexually transmitted diseases |
| Motion Sickness |
| Jet-lag prevention |
| Travellers with special health concerns |
| Travelling with children |
Yellow Fever (may not be provided by all travel health clinics)
Tetanus
Diphtheria
Polio
Measles
Mumps
Rubella
Hepatitis A
Hepatitis B
Typhoid
Meningococcus
Rabies
Japanese Encephalitis
Other Specialized Vaccines
| Recommendations for medications to help prevent malaria |
| Antibiotic medication recommendations |
| Recommendations for a travel health kit |
The "Committee to Advise on Tropical Medicine and Travel" provided Health Canada with guidelines for the practice of travel medicine in December 1999. The Committee states that International Travel Health Clinics or physicians who provide travel health advice should:
| Provide regular travel consultations as part of their practice |
| Have current knowledge about disease transmission, travel related drugs and vaccines, and prevention and management of diseases |
| Have up to date information on infectious and non infectious diseases around the globe |
| Conduct a thorough assessment of your travel risks and a basic health assessment |
| Recommendations should be based on current information fromt Health Canada, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta |
It Makes Sense to Obtain the Best Travel Health Advice before your Trip!
The Alberta Association of Travel Health Professionals (AATHP) has sponsored this pamphlet.
Alberta Association of Travel Health Professionals is a non-governmental professional association formed in November 1996. AATHP exists to provide professional support to travel health providers by meeting the following objectives:
| To raise awareness of travel clinic services within the travel industry and the public |
| To improve access to information among providers of pre-travel health services |
| To provide workshops and other continuing education |
| To facilitate communication among providers of travel health services in Alberta |
