Healthy Travel Starts Before You Board | Lupus Canada
Healthy Travel Starts Before You Board
This article was authored by Stephanie Charland, Medical Science Liaison, Bavarian Nordic Canada. No funding or other transfer of value was associated with this contribution.
For Canadians living with lupus, appropriate planning and preventive measures can help reduce their risk of travel-related diseases (1).
The Government of Canada provides guidance (2), including a helpful checklist (3), for Canadians travelling abroad. One of the key recommendations is to ensure you are informed about infectious diseases that may pose a risk in your destination. Nurses, pharmacists and/or physicians who specialise in travel health (4) continuously monitor global health risks and travel alerts to provide up-to-date advice.
Travel Health Consultations
Through a travel health consultation, these professionals can help protect travellers, often through preventive measures such as vaccination. They will determine your needs based on several factors:
- vaccination history (5),
- age,
- overall health,
- medications,
- type of travel,
- destination and entry requirements.
They may also provide guidance on preventive behaviours while abroad, travelling with children, and how to respond to specific risks. For example, they can advise on what to do after an animal bite that may carry a risk of serious infection, how to prevent food- and water-borne illnesses, or how to protect yourself from mosquito-borne diseases like yellow fever or chikungunya. Even travel to popular destinations, such as the Dominican Republic, may involve risks you may not be aware of and could benefit from a consultation.
Travel health care professionals can advise on medications to pack, any special precautions if you are taking immunosuppressive therapies, medical certificates, travel health kits and insurance. A travel health consultation may help you prepare for situations that could arise during or after your trip, including symptoms upon return.
Budgeting for travel health, including a pre-travel consultation, can be an important part of travel preparation and may help prevent unexpected health issues and potential extra costs abroad. Be sure to visit a travel health clinic or health care professionals at least 6 weeks before your trip and consult these resources (1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8).
- https://www.lupus.org/resources/traveling-the-world-despite-lupus
- Travel Health Information – Travel.gc.ca
- Traveller’s checklist for travelling outside Canada – Travel.gc.ca
- Find a travel health clinic – Travel.gc.ca– please note that this is not an exhaustive list and some travel health clinics may not be included.
- https://www.lupuscanada.org/infections-immunizations-and-lupus
- Health tips for travellers | Institut national de santé publique du Québec
- Travel health: Prevention tips and travel insurance | CAA-Quebec
- Plan for your health before and during travel – Canada.ca