Travellers who may be on a strict budget - such as those on a
gap year - have been advised to factor in the cost of vaccinations and basic medication.
According to Lynda Bramham, senior nurse adviser at MASTA-travel-health.com, many younger backpackers and travellers fail to account for the cost of the relevant jabs when heading to far-flung countries.
She added that some of these travellers are in fact surprised that they may have to pay for vaccinations and advised that some jabs are not available on the NHS, also calling for holidaymakers to be more aware of the health risks they could be exposed to.
"We feel there is definitely a need for an increased education on travel health risks. You only need to travel around parts of Asia to see the evidence; it's surprising how many travellers you can see stroking stray dogs or having tattoos on the street," Ms Bramham commented.
Thousands of British travellers catch malaria while on holiday every year, according to the Malaria Awareness Campaign. Destinations where malaria is most prevalent include South and Central America,
Africa and Asia.
Posted by Carrie at 12:54, 16 July 2007
What is this?
Use the links above to share this article on the social bookmarking site of your choice.
Social bookmarking allows users to save and categorise a personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others. This is different to using your own browser bookmarks within your web browser and has the advantage of being accessible from any computer
Read more about social bookmarking on
Wikipedia