Business Travellers

Staying healthy overseas is too important to be left to chance so do not delegate the responsibility for your health abroad to anyone else. Good pre-travel planning and preparation is therefore essential for your own health and safety, and also for success of the business trip.

Pre travel arrangements

• Ensure that you are familiar with your employer’s overseas support provision. This may include medical insurance arrangements, and safety and security policies.
  
• Try to make an appointment at your local travel clinic as soon as you know about your trip, and seek advice about any vaccinations/malaria tablets you might need. If your job involves regular short notice overseas travel, you can avoid last minute problems by ensuring that you are up to date with "core" vaccines, as a strategy of continuous protection offers advantages over the conventional "trip-by-trip"
  
• Go abroad fit - if you have any pre-existing health problems discuss your plans with your company medical advisers.
• Consider taking a basic first aid pack and sterile medical equipment (needles and syringes etc) with you.
  
• Stomach upsets or diarrhoea are very common, consider taking a diarrhoea treatment kit.

At the destination

• Be patient with cultural differences and limit your expectations (tasks often take much longer to complete in developing countries).
  
• Tiredness and jet lag may affect business efficiency. Be as well rested as possible. Short naps, eating light meals, limiting alcohol and caffeine consumption can help.
  
• Accidents and injuries are common; check vehicles are properly maintained and wear seatbelts.
  
• Wear sensible clothing to protect the skin from insect bites and use appropriate insect repellents. If you are staying in good accommodation, it may well provide adequate mosquito protection. If not, consider taking a good mosquito net.
  
• Take care with food water hygiene.
  
• Protect your skin from the sun’s harmful rays with hats, clothing and sun screens
  
• Remember that casual sex and failure to use a condom with new partners, particularly with commercial sex workers, puts you at risk of sexually transmitted infections.
  
• Adjustment to a new environment, cultural differences, changes in living standards and social amenities can all have an impact. Separation from family and friends, concerns about workload, and limited communication with colleagues and head office can also cause be stressful. Many of these difficulties can be overcome with experience and support from colleagues, managers, family and friends. Your human resources or OH department should be made aware of these difficulties and can often offer advice.

On return home

• Be aware that some people can find returning back to heir normal routine, be difficult.
  
• If on your return you are experiencing any unusual symptoms, or you know you could be at risk, see your doctor as soon as possible to discuss your risk and arrange appropriate examination, investigations, and if necessary, treatment.
  
• Finally always think malaria – if you have a raised temperature, feel unwell, have headaches, and have recently been to a malarial area seek medical attention as soon as possible.