Organizing a trip, whether for business, social, leisure or humanitarian purposes, always involves a series of tasks. At a minimum, buy tickets, find accommodation, pack your bags and, if necessary, issue a visa. But most experts in the field, or those who travel abroad frequently, will know that none of these issues is more important than taking care of your health. And beyond putting the mandatory vaccinesThere are several variables to consider that depend not only on the destination, but also on the individual himself. All this falls under the International Vaccination Centers, which must be authorized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and which fulfill a vital function in a society more aware than ever of the importance of preventing the spread of diseases.
As José Miguel Fernández Naveiro, head of the International Vaccination Center of Preventive Medicine and Public Health Service of Santiago de CompostelaIn the Spanish health system, this work is carried out in a series of centres defined within an international commission. In Galicia, it is in two foreign health centres, one in A Coruña and the other in Vigo, and, “due to a management mandate from the Ministry of Health”, the preventive medicine services of the public hospitals of the Galician health system are also accredited Saúde (Sergas)”, like the one in Santiago.
The traveler’s only responsibility in the process, beyond paying attention to what he is told, is make an appointment in one of these centers – if possible, as Sergas recommends, two months before the departure date. Once there, explains Fernández Naveiro, an exhaustive analysis of the patient’s characteristics and the type of trip they are going to make is carried out. “It is about individualizing the recommendations as much as possible” to make the “risk management” as appropriate as possible, he briefly indicates.
“Health passport”
As its name clearly indicates, the service is responsible for issuing international vaccination certificates, which broadly act as a “health passport”. This document “allows crossing borders” where certain vaccines are “mandatory or strongly recommended” enter, either by the destination itself or by the patient’s country of origin. Today, “information about outbreaks or the emergence of new health emergencies circulates very quickly,” he explains, which is essential for this system to work without errors.
To travel to Thailand, for example, it is mandatory that people from areas affected by yellow fever be vaccinated against this disease; just as it happens in other countries with others such as cholera or smallpox. The Netherlands recommends that children be vaccinated against tetanus, meningitis, polio and hepatitis. There are also countries that do not require it; and in others, only in certain cases. This is what happens in Saudi Arabia, where “historically there have been cases of Meningitis outbreaks among pilgrims in Mecca and Medina” explains Fernández Naveiro, that is why the country requires that all people wishing to perform Umrah or Hajj be vaccinated against quadrivalent meningococcal meningitis, polio and influenza.
Beyond vaccinations, this service is responsible for carrying out a complete assessment of the patient, the trip and the destination. Issues such as age and health, but also the itinerary itself. The duration, whether it is a rural or urban destination, whether you are traveling as a backpacker or with a travel agency, whether it is an international cooperation or tourist volunteering… The list of variables to take into account is long. “Luxury tourism, in an all-inclusive hotel, is not the same as traveling a country by bike for an indefinite period.“, he says, because “the risks of exposure, both to the environment and to possible pathogens, are different.”
It is after having “studied” all these aspects that a “an adequate preventive strategy”, whether through health advice, recommendations on water or food consumption, measures to protect against bites, how to prevent heat and cold strokes or how the characteristics of the place can influence a previous pathology. This means being prepared for any eventuality that may arise and, according to Fernández, a good first aid kit should contain “basic treatment materials, such as thermal baths, dressings or disinfectant strips; antipyretics or analgesics and commonly consumed medications”, as well as “probiotics, sunscreen and, depending on the place, an antimalarial or insect repellent”.
In addition, we must also prevent all risks related to travel, an activity from which, however innocuous it may seem, new clinical syndromes have emerged. This is the case of the economy class syndrome – when a person who has already had circulatory problems suffers a thrombosis of the lower limbs after a long journey in uncomfortable positions, such as on board an airplane – or traveler’s diarrhea, which affects “more than half” of people traveling internationally and is usually “one of the main problems.” But the biggest recommendation of all, according to Fernández’s experience, is none other than “having good travel insurance.”Between ten and twelve percent of travelers will need a medical consultation“At some point,” he assures.
Vital information in a society that has already returned to the frenetic pace that characterizes it, as if two years ago covid had not paralyzed the world. “Today, we travel almost everywhere”and the “number of travelers – and consultations – increases every year,” explains Fernández Naveiro. “The maximum in recent times was reached in 2019”, with almost 4,000 appointments in his department alone – out of the thirteen authorized centers in Galicia, as reflected on the Sergas website -. After two years with practically no movement, “in 2022 the return to normal began, and in 2024”, he indicates, it can already be said that they are “in numbers similar to those before the pandemic”.
