Irish travel health campaign launched
A new campaign spearheaded by Irish broadcaster and travel writer Fionn Davenport, on behalf of vaccine development company Sanofi Pasteur, aims to prompt Irish long-haul travellers to be more proactive about their travel health. Just 45 per cent of those aged 25 and under get their recommended vaccinations before travelling, compared to 41 per cent of those aged over 65, and just 31 per cent of those aged between 55 and 64. These findings, launched as part of the Healthy Travel information campaign, showed that having the correct innoculations ranked third behind having appropriate travel insurance (73 per cent) and making sure travellers have any medication they need (67 per cent).
Dr Jack Lambert, consultant in infectious diseases at Mater and Rotunda Hospitals and University College Dublin, who is backing the campaign, told Dublin People: “A pre-travel health assessment for advice on preventative measures including vaccination, insect bite avoidance, good food and water hygiene should be on the top of your travel checklist to ensure you get the most out of your trip, especially when going to locations where diseases uncommon in Ireland can be contracted easily.”
Irish residents took almost 7.1 million foreign trips in 2015, an increase of six per cent on 2014, reported the paper. Fionn Davenport has produced a series of blogs in text and video format as part of the campaign.