Advising the traveller

More than 55 million visits are made from the UK to foreign countries each year. There has been an 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.