Advising the traveller

Nearly 70 million visits are made from the UK to foreign countries each year. Over the past decade there has been a large increase in travel to tropical destinations that have different health risks from those encountered closer to home. Seeking pre-travel advice should be an essential part of any trip for a traveller, but is often omitted. The key elements of pre-travel advice are health risk assessment and health promotion, which involves advice on prevention of malaria, travellers' diarrhoea, sexually transmitted infections and accidents, as well as appropriate vaccinations. High-risk groups of travellers, such as those visiting friends and relatives, need to be particularly targeted.