Promoting travel clinic referrals: exploring partnerships for healthier travel

Many travellers are unaware or unprepared for the health-related risks of international travel. Indeed, studies of travel-related morbidity have estimated that between 15 and 45% of travellers to tropical and sub-tropical destinations experience a variety of mild to severe clinical symptoms during their travel. While some inadequacies may exist in the pre-travel health advice provided by travel clinics, recent studies have suggested that these clinics are more effective in promoting health awareness and consequently in preventing illness than more traditional health services. Unfortunately, traveller attendance records at pre-travel health clinics are poor. This situation suggests that new partnerships must be developed which encourage healthier travel by promoting the pre-departure use of travel health clinic services. The intent of this paper is to generate discussion as well as to initiate research into the development and evaluation of new partnerships to promote healthier travel.