Day in and day out millions of people travel abroad, for touring, business, studying, etc. but have you given it a thought about how to protect yourself from getting infected from diseases especially when visiting developing countries?

WHO estimates the monthly risk per 100,000 persons travelling in developing contries as:

  • One person will die during the travel
  • 60 persons will have to be evacuated by flight in order to get comprehensive treatment
  • 400 persons are hospitalised at the destination
  • 2000 persons will not able to go back to work directly after getting home.
  • 6000 persons have been ill
  • 8000 persons have been consulting a medical doctor either at the destination or after getting home from the travel
  • 25 000 persons will get ill during the travel
  • 55 000 will use medication

Good preparation reduces the risk if something goes wrong on your trip healthwise. The cost of medical evacuation of a sick or injured person is extremely high which stresses the importance to be well insured and well prepared. 100 000 traveller’s stricken with infectious diseases are distributed with:

  • Less than one person gets meningitis, cholera or legionella
  • 10 get HIV-infection
  • 40 get typhoid fever
  • 80 get hepatitis B
  • 150 are exposed to rabies
  • 200 get gonorrhoea
  • 300 get hepatitis A
  • 1500 get bronhcial infections
  • 2500 get malaria
  • 10 000 get diarrhoea E.coli
  • 50 000 get traveller’s diarrhoea

When ever you are in different country remember that you stick to bottled water or boiled water and carbonated soft drinks. Since drinking another country’s water maybe dengerous. Never order a drink with ice, since the ice is made from water , you will never know the water is bolied or not. Also brush your teeth with bottled water and keep your mouth shut when taken shower. When you have any food or medicine alleigies, try to learn the name s of those commodies in the languages used in the countries you will be visiting.

Finally try to find out the type of diseases that are common to the area you will be visiting and the proper actions to be taken to prevent your exposue to those diseases. Car crashes are a leading cause of injury among travelers. Protect yourself from these injuries by:

  • Not drinking and driving.
  • Wearing your seat belt and using car seats or booster seats in the backseat for children.
  • Following local traffic laws.
  • Wearing helmets when you ride bikes, motorcycles, and motor bikes.
  • Not getting on an overloaded bus or mini-bus.
  • Hiring a local driver, when possible.
  • Avoiding night driving.