Safety

Staying healthy on the road

This section consists of health and safety related information recorded from our own trips, plus other travellers information as we get it, and useful links to much more.

Topics (or scroll down)

• Travel Medical Tips
• Medical kit
• Useful Links
• Medical insurance
• Avoiding Crime
• Country alerts

On Terrorism page:

• Protection Against Terrorism
• Travel To High- Risk Areas
• Hijacking/ Hostage Situations

Travel Medical Tips

Diseases caught by eating contaminated food or drink include Hepatitis A, Salmonella, Typhoid and diarrhoea:

• Do not drink milk or eat dairy products which may be unpasteurized.
• Avoid salads unless vegetables have been treated
• Avoid uncooked food unless you prepare it - for example, peel all fruit yourself.
• Avoid food which has been re-heated, kept warm or exposed to flies.
• Remember ice is made from local water
• Drink fizzy bottled water or soft drinks - ensure you open the bottle yourself
• Boiling water may not be sufficient to kill all bacteria - should filter, then treat with iodine or chlorine (Puritabs) tablets.
• Strict personal hygiene

Avoid insect and mosquito bites. Cover up, especially after dusk. Use DEET based insect repellents. Take malaria prophylaxis strictly on schedule.

Sun damage is cumulative and can cause skin cancer - Use effective sun block.

Do not play with animals.

Travel Medical Kit - an example

Our travel medical kit actual contents for Africa

First Aid Kit

• Small pressure dressing
• Large gauze bandage
• 3 Spenco Second skin
• 5 2 Towelettes + 3 abrasion cleaning pads
• 1 Thermometer
• 1 Scissors
• 1 Tweezers
• 8 Safety pins
• 1 Matches
• Assorted small bandaids
• 1 Elastic bandage
• 1 Adhesive tape - small rolls
• Gauze rolls
• Disposable gloves (sterile)
• Q-tips
• 2 2 soakers
• Triangle bandages
• 2 Slings
• 1 SAM splint
• Wound closure strips
• Tincture of benzoin (enhances adhesiveness of wound closure strips
• 1 Sawyer's Extractor snake bite kit
• 1 Tick kit and instructions
• 1 Mountaineering Medicine
• 28g Cortaid 1% hydrocortisone cream
• 1 Aloe vera gel (burn ointment)-nalgene bottle
• Blister treatment
• 1 Dental kit
• 14g Neomycin ointment

Medicines

• 56 Malaria prophylaxis - Mefloquine (Lariam) - 28 weeks supply
• 54 Quinine (48) & fansidar (6) for two courses of malaria treatment
• 30 Antibiotic - Ciprofloxacin (250 mg)
• 80 Pain relief - Solpadeine (paracetamol w/codeine)
• 60 Loperamide / Imodium - 2 mg
• 2 Scopoderm TTS - motion sickness patches
• 4 Bonine - motion sickness tablets
• 20 Cinnarizine (Stugeron) - motion sickness
• 10 Gastrolyte packages
• 24 Sudafed (decongestant)
• 14 Triludan (antihistamine for allergies)
• 1 pkg. Syringes (with doctor's letter)
• 24 Sodium dichlorisocyanurate - water purification
• 10g Potassium permanganate (for cleaning fruits and vegetables)
• 55g Mycil antifungal powder - 55g
• 25 g Mycil antifungal ointment - 25 g
• 10 ml Eye drops for conjunctivitis - 10 ml
• 3g Antibiotic eye ointment - 3g
• 11 Acid blockers (antacids)
• Small tube of Vaseline
• prescription drugs

Unfortunately, when travelling, mishaps sometimes cannot be avoided. It is always worth having your embassy's phone number to hand. Furthermore, personal injury firms such as Express Solicitors are there for you to seek advice if you believe the accident was not your fault.