The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7213 p272
31 August 2002

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Pharmacists give travel advice in a range of languages

Community pharmacists provide travel health advice to their customers in a much wider range of languages than other health care professionals, according to a survey commissioned by vaccine manufacturer Aventis Pasteur MSD.

Information was on offer in 18 languages other than English, with 38 per cent of the 209 pharmacists questioned offering their customers information in at least one other language. The most common languages were Gujarati (offered by 23 per cent), Hindi (19), Punjabi (12) and Urdu (11). Advice was also offered in Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Swahili and Chinese by some pharmacists.

Carolyne Driver, chairman of the British Travel Health Association, said: "Community pharmacists are key members of the travel health team and it is important for them to develop good relationships with local travel health clinics and practice nurses."