IAMAT |International Association of Medical Assistance to Travellers| IAMAT |International Association of Medical Assistance to Travellers|

Travel Health Journal

Programs and Projects

Bringing Travel Medicine to a Travel Hot-Spot: Meet IAMAT Scholar Nsisong Asanga

We are pleased to introduce you to our latest Scholar, Dr. Nsisong Asanga. Nsisong is the Medical Director of the Victor Attah International Airport Clinic in Uyo, Nigeria. Last fall, Dr. Asanga was awarded the IAMAT Stella and George Bryant Travel Medicine Scholarship. IAMAT Scholars, like Nsisong, are passionate and dedicated leaders. Upon graduation, our Scholars return to their communities to teach their colleagues and apply their new skills to improve healthcare practices in their clinics, benefitting travellers and local patients. For her training, Nsisong travelled to London, England where she completed a travel medicine short course at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), and participated in clinical observations at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and ...

Balloons in sky

Travelling with medications: A NEW guide

Are you travelling soon and currently taking prescription medication? Did you know that countries often place specific restrictions on the import of medications for personal use? If you are confused about how to travel with your prescription medication, you’re not alone. Travelling with medications is one of the most common concerns among travellers. Country regulations can be unclear and difficult to navigate, while penalties for not being in compliance can be severe. Many of us are confused about, or unaware of, these restrictions and how they are enforced. Even if you are in compliance with your destination’s restrictions, you can still run into issues with your medication during your trip. It can be a challenge to find prescription medication ...

Manuel Villalobos and his wife at the summit of Cerro Chirripo

IAMAT Scholars: Where are they now?

Did you know that we’ve awarded over 30 travel medicine scholarships to doctors and nurses since 2002? Our scholars have gone on to conduct research on travellers’ health, implement travel medicine best practices in their communities, and become leaders in travel medicine. Today, we’re checking in with two of our past scholars, Manuel and Ramesh. Manuel Villalobos (2016) and Ramesh Maniam (2017) both received the Stella & George Bryant Travel Medicine Scholarship. They trained at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, UK. We caught up with Manuel and Ramesh to see how they’re putting their knowledge into practice. What are IAMAT Scholarships? Our scholarships help practitioners who are already ...

Understanding Travel Health Insurance: 26 Important Terms You Need to Know

You purchased travel health insurance coverage and are ready for your trip, but do you find yourself looking at pages and pages of fine print containing legal and medical jargon? Our latest resource Understanding Travel Health Insurance helps demystify some common terms found in insurance plans. It also includes helpful tips, advice, and questions to ask your insurer before you buy. It’s a crowded marketplace out there and finding the best coverage for your needs can be daunting. Unfortunately, travellers can find themselves out-of-pocket for medical care needed abroad because they didn’t understand their coverage. Our members have told us that policy terms and conditions have many exceptions and are difficult to understand. To help, we reviewed travel health ...

Dr. Marybeth Maritim on the White Nile river in Uganda.

Meet Marybeth: Travel medicine beyond vaccines

Marybeth Maritim is a physician, university lecturer, and travel medicine practitioner in Nairobi, Kenya. We were thrilled to award her the 2018 IAMAT Violet Williams Travel Medicine Scholarship. In May, Marybeth travelled to Johannesburg, South Africa to attend a travel medicine course with the South African Society of Travel Medicine (SASTM). The intensive 5-day course covered all aspects of travel medicine. She also had the opportunity to see how a travel clinic operates at the Travel Doctor Clinic. We caught up with Marybeth to find out more about her vision for travel medicine in Kenya. Travel medicine beyond vaccines For Marybeth, one of the most valuable parts of the SASTM course was learning new ways to educate her patients ...

2016 IAMAT scholars Manuel and Weedgina

Travel medicine pioneers in Haiti and Costa Rica

A new frontier for IAMAT scholars We were thrilled to award the Stella & George Bryant Travel Medicine Scholarship to two deserving doctors in 2016. The scholarship enabled Weedgina St Vil of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti and Manuel Villalobos of San José, Costa Rica to take a travel medicine short course at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in November. Weedgina and Manuel also participated in clinical observation at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases travel clinic. We are grateful to Dr. Ron Behrens for organizing the course at LSHTM and making the clinical component possible. Meet Weedgina and Manuel Manuel and Weedgina are using what they learned to become travel medicine pioneers in Costa Rica and Haiti. Both ...

Angeline telling her colleagues about IAMAT at UTMB.

From Egypt to China: Scholars hone travel health knowledge

Exploring travel medicine and global health Cross-cultural experience is invaluable for travel medicine practitioners. Three of our scholars recently had the opportunity to hone their knowledge and skills with travel health experts in South Africa and the USA. Ahmad Mosad Ibraheem of Mansoura, Egypt attended a 5-day course in Johannesburg with the South African Society of Travel Medicine (SASTM). Meng Jing (Angeline) of Chengdu, China and Liu Chunfang (Kathleen), of Shenzhen, China spent 8 weeks studying tropical medicine and global health at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas. Angeline and Kathleen currently practise travel medicine, while Ahmad is planning to introduce it into his practice. After they recovered from jet lag, we caught up with ...

Meet the doctors who will help you

Meet Vinay Vaidya from Nepal and Ali Raza from Pakistan. If you get sick away from home, you can count on them to help you. Vinay and Ali are both doctors who trained at Hainan Medical University for three months with the 2013 IAMAT-HAINAN Travel Medicine Scholarship. This was made possible thanks to the generous support from our members. Photo – Dr. Ali Raza, left, and Dr. Vinay Vaidya, right, at the Hainan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Ali Raza Ali’s goal is to one day practice travel medicine back home in Pakistan, specifically in the Khagan Valley, a beautiful mountainous area that attracts many tourists. He became interested in travel medicine during a trip to ...

IAMAT - The International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers

Thanks for Making International Travel Healthier!

It’s that time of the year when we take stock of the past year and look forward to new projects and goals for 2013. This year, we’re looking forward to providing more travel health products to help you plan a healthy trip. We’re making changes to our website which will feature an online library of updated articles compiled from our Travel Health Blog. We’ll also be adding a section where you can ask us your travel health related questions. Our Travel Health Planner will be smarter and existing mobile features will also be improved. We’re very pleased to provide the Guide to Healthy Travel in hard copy. It’s currently only available in PDF, but will be available in print ...

Our Scholarship Program Just Got Bigger!

Thanks to the generous donations from our members, more students passionate about travel medicine can now apply for an IAMAT scholarship. We’ve just expanded our International Travel Medicine Education Program to Hainan Medical University in Haikou, China where two more students will now be able to train in travel medicine. This new partnership complements our existing travel medicine scholarship training site at the Kaiser Permanente Honolulu Clinic in Hawaii. IAMAT President, Assunta Uffer-Marcolongo, second on right, meets with Hainan Medical University staff and Vice President Zeng Yu, second on left. Photo courtesy of Hainan Medical University. The IAMAT Scholarship Fund is the only one of its kind supporting doctors and nurses from low income areas and typically popular tourism ...