Although health care is essential in the life of every person, it becomes more relevant when preparing a trip, since the success of a trip will not only depend on confirmed reservations, unforgettable places or scheduled flights, but also on having health for enjoy it.
However, health does not have to be good. Being a factor that does not allow us to travel, much less in the globalized world in which we live, it will be about acting to prevent and knowing how to handle the possible situations to which we can be exposed.
We want to share some general considerations when planning a trip taking into account health and the following aspects:
- Where are we traveling to?
- For how long?
- Who are we traveling with?
- What's up? experience do those who travel?
Where are we traveling to?Call it a city, town, country, region, etc., it will certainly be the place to be. a determining factor when thinking about health care. To be clear, without intending to make value judgments in this regard, we will take an extreme example, it is not the same to organize a trip to Europe than one to Africa.
The conditions: environmental, service, infrastructure and many others are essentially different.
We can travel to Europe with a small first-aid kit (allergy, digestive, analgesics, etc…) plus travel assistance and we will be covered for any eventuality.
It is more than likely that we can use assistance from any location by contacting it from our cell phone. Undoubtedly, comparatively speaking, Africa, depending on the area we visit, offers a different panorama and we must be more careful in this way. How to go deeper into certain aspects. Issues such as prophylaxis (vaccines, repellents, vitamins, etc…), medium/high complexity first-aid kits (antibiotics, disinfectants, water purifiers, etc…) should be the order of the day during the tour.
Travel assistance will probably have restrictions outside of large cities as well. as well as communications. It will be It is necessary to have a minimum amount of equipment and know how to manage it.
Prevention will undoubtedly be essential. A topic of relevance: wash your hands, only drink bottled or drinkable water. In certain places it will be It is also necessary to make the water drinkable to brush your teeth and take care not to swallow water during a shower. Undoubtedly all the precautions are sharpened if we travel with a baby.
Many times it is not only hygiene or the environment that influences but our own immune system that surely is not working. Prepared for common bacteria in certain areas of the planet. This is why a local may not get sick with things that can harm our body. (eg: tap water, meals, etc…).
For how long?The shorter the travel time, the greater the health precautions should be. A two-month adventure trip won't look good. If you are affected by a two-day diarrhea, you will not spend another day. the same if the time is shorter and the activities have an established order.
Who are we traveling with?We must consider not only the age, sex, etc... of the people we are traveling with, but also the physical and mental state of our /your travel companions.
An adventure trip through a culturally different country, where we must be physically and mentally prepared to face the situations that arise, is not the same as one in which we have an itinerary with times and visits scheduled in advance and that rarely will give room for eventualities. In the first case, it is important to be aware that the patterns related to the culture of the place will govern so that simple aspects such as food, transportation or looking for a place to stay will be subject to said patterns. It will not be the same visit a place where when you are hungry you can eat. to count on a coffee or a sandwich to replenish energy than an area where it is not reliable to drink tap water.
Not taking care of our health will be fatal. not taking care of the group, since what happens to us will affect them in some way and emotional breakdowns can be critical.
What did you do? What experience do those who travel have?Less despair more efficiency. It is important to be clear about “what”, “how” and “when” do. An example is the contact with travel assistance, it may seem simple but in an emergency the process must be well defined.
Having a first-aid kit handy is always useful only if you know “what” “for what” and “how” medicate. Try to deal with the names of the medicinal drugs that you transport rather than with trade names, this will be easier. Useful in case they are lost, ruined or confiscated. It is always advisable to travel with medical prescriptions in the language of the country we are visiting.
It is also important to be clear that we will always try to use a professional medical service before our own self-medication.
(A contribution from Eduardo Giusiano / TRAVELING FAMILY)