Travel health update

Travel health guidance for passengers on cruise ships; Flying with a food allergy; FGM; Planning for travel health conferences in 2015

TRAVEL HEALTH GUIDANCE ON BOARD CRUISE SHIPS

Booking a cruise ship trip may well be high up on our travellers’ agenda in the January post-Christmas slump and as the dark cold days of winter drag on. Public Health England and NaTHNaC published a new ‘Travel health guidance on board cruise ships’ information leaflet last month at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/keeping-illness-at-bay-on-cruises. Key advice includes seeing a healthcare provider well in advance of the departure date for vaccines and malaria advice; getting travel insurance; being safe on board from accidents; sun protection and following good food and water hygiene precautions. Some links are provided throughout the text and ones to very useful resources are listed at the end. These include a link to the Centers for Disease Control page on the same topic but from here you can also access the CDC ‘Green Sheet Report’ which is a list of sanitation inspection scores for specific cruise ships which makes interesting reading.

See http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionGreenSheetRpt.aspx

FLYING WITH A FOOD ALLERGY

Anaphylaxis Campaign is a UK charity providing information and support relating to foods and other triggers such as latex, drugs and insect stings. Their informative website and Facebook page displays significant activity in terms of events and conferences, advice for many different groups and public sector workers. Information also relates to recent legislation that requires food businesses to provide allergy information on foods sold unpackaged in catering outlets, deli counters, bakeries and sandwich bars as well as pre-packaged food. The latter now has to include the 14 major allergens, written in bold and with a minimum font size. There is also a dedicated webpage related to flying with a food allergy which provides sound advice at http://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/living-with-anaphylaxis/travel and a link to another website ‘Allergy Action’ which has translations of some useful phrases in relation to allergies, anaphylaxis and summoning emergency help. In addition each of the 12 translated sheets contain a list of over 30 foods that are translated into the local language. See http://allergyaction.org/translations/

FGM

Female genital mutilation (FGM) has come higher up the political agenda very recently, however there remains great ignorance on the topic by the general public and some healthcare professionals as well. FGM is prevalent in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. In the UK, FGM tends to occur in areas with larger populations of communities who practise FGM, such as first-generation immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. These areas include London, Cardiff, Manchester, Sheffield, Northampton, Birmingham, Oxford, Crawley, Reading, Slough and Milton Keynes. Greater awareness of the topic is vitally important and NHS Choices provide some excellent resources www.nhs.uk search FGM). There is also a series of regional conferences (free of charge) being held in Dartford, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Leeds, Ealing, Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham and Oxford during February and March. For more details go to http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/sexual-health-services/Pages/fgm-for-professionals.aspx and look under ‘Free regional conference’.

PLANNING FOR A TRAVEL HEALTH CONFERENCE IN 2015

There are a number of large travel health conferences to be held in 2015 starting with the Faculty of Travel Medicine (RCPSG) and the British and Global Health Travel Association on 28 March in Leicester, addressing the ‘Adventurous Traveller’. Or you could travel further afield for the 14th Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine in Quebec, 24-28 May. My joint meeting with the Royal College of Nursing will be held on 19 September at the Royal College of Physicians. For more information see http://www.janechiodini.co.uk/links/conferences/