Prevention is better than cure, holidaymakers are reminded

With the travel season about to kick off, information about health measures that need to be taken before going abroad has been published by the health authorities.

An in-depth booklet - available online through the Disease Surveillance Unit's website - urges travellers to look at the potential health risks present in the country they will be visiting.

Immunisation requirements should be checked at least two months before the trip because not all vaccines can be taken at one go and some might take a while to become fully effective. Anti-malaria medication, for example, should be taken a number of weeks before the trip.

The director general of health, Ray Busuttil, said that an estimated four million people around the world die of vaccine-preventable diseases every year, 32,000 of them coming from the European region.

Vaccines, he said, do not only protect people against a number of infectious diseases, but in certain cases have also eradicated diseases like smallpox. Dr Busuttil said polio was also on the way out, but although there have not been any cases locally after 1966, people are still vaccinated against it because the disease could be imported.

Addressing a press conference Dr Busuttil highlighted the importance of people travelling to certain countries knowing what precautions they needed to take.

"In certain countries you find microbes we do not have in Malta, and it is important to be immunised against them. Many people do not think about the vaccines they need to take, or else remember when it is too late," he said, adding that, ideally, one should check about the needed immunisations at least six to eight weeks before travelling.

He stressed that immunisation depends on where a person is going and how long he is staying there.

The travel advice campaign was launched as part of the activities to mark European Immunisation Week.

The head of the Disease Surveillance Unit, Charmaine Gauci, urged travellers to be careful what they ate, especially in countries where water is not safe.

Questioned about health checks on illegal immigrants who might be carrying certain diseases, Dr Busuttil said these are examined on arrival and again after some days.

The leaflet is available from the Health Ministry and the Entitlement Unit in Valletta, the Public Health Department and from government health centres, including the Floriana one which houses the National Immunisation Services. Dr Busuttil said the plan was also to distribute them to travel agents.

www.health.gov.mt/dsu