Travel health: Perceptions and practices of travel consultants

Background: The global increase in international travel puts travelers at r isk of travel-related morbidity and mortality. Prior to travel, most travel ers have contact with a travel agency, thereby providing an opportunity for intervention. With this in mind we aimed to determine some of the travel-r elated hearth knowledge, practices and needs of travel consultants. Methods: A cross sectional study was undertaken in which one travel consult ant from each of 166 Western Australian travel agencies was asked to comple te a self-administered questionnaire. Results: One hundred and forty-five travel agencies (87%) agreed to partici pate in the study. Fifty-six percent indicated that they "usually" gave bro ad travel-related health guidelines and recommended their clients consult a medical practitioner. Almost all travel consultants reported discussing tr avel health insurance; very few provided information on sexually transmissi ble diseases, the risks associated with drug use, or first aid kits. Over 8 0% responded correctly to statements eliciting their knowledge on yellow fe ver, malaria, and food safety; the majority incorrectly answered questions on dengue fever and altitude sickness. Fifty-six percent: of respondents th ought that there was "not enough" readily accessible travel health informat ion; 52% said they would like to be more involved in providing health infor mation to their clients. Conclusions: Contact between travelers and travel agents offers an opportun ity to promote awareness of travel-related health hazards. While travel con sultants' health knowledge on some topics is adequate, in other areas it is inconsistent. Many travel consultants in Western Australia expressed a wil lingness to be involved in future health promotion activities. This partici pation may be best nurtured by providing travel consultants with: (1) bette r health education so they are able to identify high-risk travelers and des tinations for medical referral; and, (2) health information in a format the y feel comfortable distributing to their clients.