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

Travel Health Journal

Everything you need to know about Schistosomiasis

If your next adventure will take you rafting or swimming in fresh water, you should know about Schistosomiasis. What do snails have to do with travel health? You’re familiar with Yellow Fever, Malaria, and Traveller’s Diarrhea, but here’s one travel health risk you may not have heard of: Schistosomiasis. Also known as Bilharzia, Schistosomiasis is a parasitic infection transmitted by freshwater snails present in Africa and parts of Southeast Asia, South America, the Middle East, and some Caribbean islands. The culprit is the trematode flatworm parasite that is transmitted by small snails which are difficult to spot on the shores of lakes, rivers, streams and ponds. Coming into brief contact with fresh water contaminated with one of the eight ...

8 Things about Dr. Fredrick Kinama

Meet Fredrick Kinama of Nairobi, Kenya, our latest travel medicine scholar. Dr. Kinama received the inaugural 2014 IAMAT Violet Williams Travel Medicine Scholarship to attend a travel medicine certification course sponsored by the South African Society of Travel Medicine in May. Here are 8 interesting facts about Dr. Kinama and what he learned during his training in Johannesburg. Is 32 years old. Speaks English and Swahili, and is well versed in Taita, a Bantu language spoken in the Taita Hills on the south eastern border with Tanzania. Graduated from the University of Nairobi Medical School in 2008 and is certified in health management systems. Among his previous positions, he worked in El Wak on the border with Somalia providing ...

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 ...

Get Your Guide to Healthy Travel

Are you confused about all the travel health advice out there and don’t know if the information is credible? You’re not alone. You may come across inconsistent advice or don’t know if you can trust the source. Travel health advice can vary from country to country and even between different public health and travel medicine professional organizations. According to travel medicine practitioners Alan Magill and David Shlim: Some of the reasons why guidelines differ include availability of products in different countries, a different cultural perception or risk, lack of evidence (or differing interpretations of the same evidence), and sometimes just honest difference in opinion among experts. Another issue we encounter in our work is the lack of monitoring or ...

Why IAMAT Doctors Abroad Are Different

We are very pleased to include more doctors providing trusted medical care abroad to serve you better. IAMAT members now have new or additional coverage in the following cities: Antigua, Guatemala Athens, Greece Berlin, Germany Cuernavaca, Mexico Danang, Vietnam Derrygonnelly, N. Ireland Edmonton and Ottawa, Canada Iquitos, Peru Kandy, Sri Lanka Kathmandu, Nepal Kriel, South Africa Ludhiana, India Millsboro (DE) and Aptos (CA), USA Moscow, Russia Here are just a few reasons why our affiliated doctors and mental health practitioners are different: They speak English fluently. You won’t have to go through a medical translator to communicate your health concerns. They are vetted by our organization and clinics are inspected to ensure they meet international health standards. They volunteer ...

Health Risks Associated with Ecotourism

Booked your eco-adventure trip, check. Packed all your gear, check. But wait a minute, what about health considerations? Many of us don’t consider the health risks associated with ecotourism, including how we impact the health of the animals and communities we encounter abroad. Our guest blogger, Michael Muehlenbein, explains what you need to consider when planning your ecotourism vacation. What is ecotourism? Nature-based tourism accounts for a growing proportion of international tourism activity. Ecotourism is specifically a sustainable version of nature-based tourism that attempts to educate visitors while minimizing modification or degradation of natural resources and broadly benefiting the social and natural environments by involving the participation of local communities. Certainly most activities traditionally considered to be ecotourism-related, like ...

Malaria in Returning Travellers

Do you know if your travel destination country has malaria? If so, would you take medication to prevent a malaria infection? As we pause to take stock of anti-malaria efforts on World Malaria Day, much progress has been made to prevent and control malaria since 2000, mainly a 25% reduction of mortality rates worldwide. Much remains to be done to successfully eradicate infections including direct community involvement, improved housing, access to healthcare, eliminating corruption, and addressing climate change. From a travel perspective, regional and international mobility, counterfeit malaria medications, growing mosquito resistance to some antimalarial medications – particularly in border areas of Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos – and the presence of malaria in new or previously eradicated areas ...

Are you ready for Germageddon?

Do you understand how your immune system works to protect you from disease? Do you know how vaccines work? These questions are answered in the graphic novel Germageddon: The War of Vaccines Vs. The Human Immune System. Created, written, and illustrated by Natalia Burachynsky, a Medical Illustrator and Visualization specialist, the comic book explains immunity and the power of vaccines. We recently asked Natalia, an avid traveller who has visited New Zealand, Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Greece, Portugal and many other European countries to tell us why she developed Germageddon for her Master’s of Science in Biomedical Communications at the University of Toronto. What is Germageddon? Germageddon is an educational graphic novel that is unbiased, engaging, and humorous. It ...

How to Assemble the Perfect Travel First Aid Kit

Guest post by Dr. Erik McLaughlin Preparing your travel first aid kit is a vital part of your pre-trip planning and packing. When I think about getting ready for a trip it usually involves packing. This means all my clothes laid out on the bed, some Bob Marley music in the background and deciding what I will need. What I need has to be balanced with space and weight. This is true with your first aid kit. The ‘Perfect’ kit The ‘perfect’ travel first aid kit is the kit that is carried with you and ready for any potential problem. If you talk to too many travel doctors, you will end up with a first aid kit that weighs ...

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 ...