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| Travel Health Feature |
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How to stay healthy when you hit the road
- Before you do anything else, take out medical insurance and check you are well covered. You do not want to find yourself in a situation in a strange country, in which it is cheaper to die than seek medical attention. That said, if you are a senior, senior citizen (in your eighties for instance), medical travel insurance is virtually impossible to find.
- Young people are invariably the ones who do not take out medical insurance - and they are the ones who really need it. They're the adventurous ones. Those who ski fearlessly down slopes and break limbs, who hire scooters to explore a cow, car or palm tree at close quarters.
- If you do get sick while travelling and require medical treatment, keep every single receipt to bring home for medical insurance claims.
- If you are in a country that does not use a Western alphabet, ask them to re-write your account in English (or you do it and get an official stamp) so that you can hand it in for your insurance claim. It is difficult enough getting recompensed for medical insurance claims anyway - if they are written in Arabic or Mandarin, you won't stand a chance.
- Check if you need vaccinations or inoculations before you travel. Go to your nearest travel clinic as your doctor might not be up-to-date with what vaccinations are necessary. Travel clinics give you full travel services, including the latest health information, all vaccinations including yellow fever and hepatitis, inoculations for cholera etc, malaria prophylaxis, and travel kits. Yellow fever, cholera, hepatitis, typhoid fever and tetanus are the more common diseases that require inoculations.
- If you are taking prescription on medication, take enough with you when you travel. Ask your doctor for a prescription of your medication just in case your bag containing your tablets is stolen.
- Make up a small, comprehensive medical kit with basics. Visit your doctor before you depart and ask him for a broad-spectrum antibiotic, should you become unexpectedly ill while travelling. Take along painkillers and pills for stomach upsets and nausea, plasters and a sprain bandage. A good disinfectant in a small plastic bottle (wrapped in a plastic bag) can come in handy.
- If you wear prescription spectacles, take along your prescription as well as a spare pair of glasses.
- If you are visiting an area where there are lots of flies, insects and bugs, take along an insect repellent.
- If you have allergies or any medical condition (such as asthma or diabetes), which requires drugs, remember your medication.
- Diarrhoea strikes most travellers at one time or another. If you get diarrhoea, drink plenty of fluids. An excellent emergency recipe to replace fluids quickly is one cup of boiled water, two teaspoons of sugar, a pinch of salt and a pinch of bicarbonate of soda.
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