Giving travel advice in the uncertain age of COVID-19

As restrictions ease and more people holiday overseas, the importance of providing accurate travel health advice increases. Jacqueline Spinks and colleagues provide an overview of current guidance The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic drop in people travelling to other countries for pleasure; however, now that restrictions across the UK are easing, more people are seeking a break and a long-awaited holiday overseas. Practice nurses are uniquely placed to provide travel advice not just in relation to COVID-19 requirements and restrictions, but also to remind travellers of the importance of being prepared for all other communicable diseases and travel-related hazards. This article aims to provide a summary of the latest and up to date information in England (links to guidance covering the Devolved Administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are found in Box 1 ) and covers a summary of COVID-19, current guidance on travel during the pandemic, information about pre-planning for overseas travel, return from travel and information about being identified as a contact during travel, general travel advice; and ends with links to the most relevant guidance and information available.

The advent of social media influencer tourism: Travel health risks and opportunities

The authors assert that social media influencer tourism should be recognised as a novel entity in travel medicine, in order to protect this vulnerable group of travellers from harm to themselves and their host destinations, and to harness their potential as communicators of positive public health messages.

Death as attraction: the role of travel medicine and psychological travel health care in ‘dark tourism’

Still an evolving field in travel medicine, psychological travel health has not yet been linked to tourist products that may affect travellers’ mental wellbeing. Dark tourism, the travel to sites linked to death, atrocities and suffering, is a product that, on the one hand, attracts people with a keen interest in death-related attractions and, on the other hand, may inflict psychological scars. Of particular concern are travellers with undiagnosed or diagnosed mental illness.This is the first article bringing travel medicine and dark tourism together. Understanding dark tourism is crucial to appreciate the wide variety of potential stimuli leading to anything from amusement to travel-related psychoses. Travellers’ motivations for and emotional responses to visits of ‘dark’ sites provide an important input into individually tailored psychological pre and post-travel health care. Relevant recommendations include suggestions for education, clinical practice and much needed further multidisciplinary research.

Vaccine passports and health disparities: a perilous journey

This paper raises health equity concerns about the use of passports for domestic and international travel to certify COVID-19 vaccination. Part I argues that for international travel, health equity objections undercut arguments defending vaccine passports, which are based on tholding people responsible, protecting global health, safeguarding individual liberty and continuing current practice. Part II entertains a proposal for a scaled down vaccine passport for domestic use in countries where vaccines are widely and equitably available. It raises health equity concerns related to racial profiling and fairness to people who are vaccine cautious. Part III sets forth a proposal for a flexible pass that certifies people who have been vaccinated, tested, previously infected or granted a conscientious objection. It sets ethical guidelines for the timing and use of flexible passes that promote equity, public health education, antidiscrimination, privacy and flexibility.

Travel Health Knowledge and Perception of Foreign Backpackers Traveling in Bali

International travel to a country has potentially carry health risks for travelers, including backpackers. To date, little is known about Travel Health knowledge and perception among foreign backpackers traveling to Bali. This study aimed to explore the level of knowledge and perception, as well as health information that backpackers need in their destination, Bali. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study, conducted from December 2017 to January 2018 in Bali. This study involved 133 backpackers, taken by convenience sampling technique. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and were analysed descriptively. The results showed that backpackers’ knowledge was inadequate, especially to common diseases or health problems that occurred to travelers in Bali. There were 94.74% have low knowledge about rabies, 48.87% have less knowledge about methanol poisoning and 58.65% have low knowledge about diarrhoea. A total of 69.18% backpackers have a perception that they were not prone to being exposed to diseases and health problems in Bali and 36.84% were not aware that they had to seek health information before traveling to Bali. Almost all stated that they needed complete, destination-specific health information. It is necessary to increase backpackers’ knowledge and awareness regarding Travel Health at the destination. The development of integrated health promotion media about travel health in Bali, in form of web-based or application-based is one of the strategies to consider.

Community-Based Pharmacy Travel Health Service Pilot Impact on Participant Understanding and Satisfaction

Background: Increased rates of international travel have led to a higher demand for healthcare professionals to provide travel health services. Community-based pharmacists are capable of meeting this need. Objective: This study evaluates the impact of pharmacists providing travel health services in a community-based pharmacy on participant understanding and satisfaction of travel education and preparation. Method: A trained pharmacist met with participants to review their medical history, travel itinerary, and provide education. Indicated immunizations were administered and the participant’s primary care provider was contacted if prescription medications were warranted. A questionnaire was administered before and after the travel health consultation assessing participants perceived understanding of travel health information, satisfaction, and perceived monetary value of the service. Data were collected by 5-point Likert-scale responses, with 5 equivalent to strongly agree. Wilcoxon signed-rank test and descriptive statistics were used for evaluation. Participants were included if they had international travel planned within 12 weeks of the consultation. Results: A total of 12 participants were included. Participant understanding significantly increased for all 5 survey items relating to travel health information with a p value < 0.05 for each item. The largest change was for how to find medical help during international travel (medians and IQR were 3(2-3), and 5(5-5) for pre-and post-consultation, respectively, p = 0.003). Participant satisfaction questions received a median response of 5. Participants’ perceived monetary value of the service was a median of $50 (IQR $50-50). Conclusion: Pharmacist-led travel health consultations improved participant understanding of travel health information and was of perceived value.