An internet website "Fit for travel", which offers advice for travellers, has been launched by the National Health Service
The site has been developed by the Scottish Centre for Infection and Environmental Health (SCIEH), which already provides travel health information for registered health care professionals via an on-line travel health database called TRAVAX (www.axl.co.uk/scieh).
According to SCIEH, travel figures show that increasing numbers of United Kingdom residents travel overseas, with more than one in 10 visiting countries considered to be medium to high risk for infections and other health hazards. Over two thirds of travellers at risk also fail to seek advice regarding travel health.
Visitors to the website will be able to request travel health information about a particular destination, first by highlighting the continent on a world map, and then by highlighting the country itself on a map of the chosen continent. Information for that country is then presented, including recommended immunisations and malaria prevention measures, if needed, as well as an overview of ways in which specific diseases and infections can be avoided.
Dr Eric Walker (consultant in travel medicine, SCIEH) said: "Lack of accessible information means that many individuals will travel abroad unprotected to at risk areas and as a result, may either fall ill while on holiday, or worse still, suffer the long-term consequences of conditions such as malaria or hepatitis. We believe that providing this type of information on the web is highly appropriate, given that health and travel are two of the commonest reasons why we access the net."
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