The travel health kit

• Take enough for the whole trip, plus a reserve in case of delays.
• Split them between your hand luggage and your suitcase.
• Think about the time difference for the contraceptive pill and insulin.
• Liquids over 100 ml in the cabin and syringes require a medical certificate.
• Some medicines are banned or require a certificate in some countries: strong painkillers, codeine, sleeping pills, cortisone, among others.

Equipment

• an unbreakable thermometer, small scissors and tweezers;
• a hand sanitiser gel;
• a wound disinfectant: chlorhexidine, povidone-iodine or octenidine;
• sterile compresses, bandages, sticking plaster and adhesive wound closures (Steri-Strip);
• single-dose saline, to rinse a wound or an eye;
• sunscreen SPF 30 to 50, and an insect repellent if you are going to an area with mosquitoes;
• condoms.

Plain soap can also be used to wash an animal bite or scratch (see our leaflet on rabies).

Medicines

• for fever and pain: paracetamol;
• for allergies and insect bites: an anti-allergy medicine, as tablets and as a gel;
• oral rehydration salts, in sachets;
• for diarrhoea in adults, only if there is no fever and no blood in the stools;
• for nausea or travel sickness;
• nasal drops, useful when flying if you have a cold, for a few days only.

Dengue, which is spread by mosquitoes, can cause bleeding. Aspirin and ibuprofen increase this risk. Where dengue is circulating, choose paracetamol.

Diarrhoea makes you lose water and salt. Oral rehydration salts replace both in the right proportions. Fizzy drinks are not suitable: too much sugar, not enough salt. Emergency recipe, if you have no sachets: 1 litre of drinking water, 6 level teaspoons of sugar and half a level teaspoon of salt.

Depending on your trip, add:

• malaria prevention and a standby treatment for malaria, on prescription;
• standby antibiotics, on prescription, for specific situations;
• a mild cortisone cream and an antifungal cream;
• eye drops, on prescription;
• an adrenaline auto-injector, if you have a known severe allergy;
• permethrin to treat clothing and mosquito nets;
• in a remote area: rapid malaria tests, sterile syringes and needles.

A trek at altitude? The medicine for altitude sickness is also prescribed at a consultation.

We prepare your full prescription at a consultation, at our practice or by teleconsultation: book an appointment.

• Paracetamol as a syrup or tablets, dosed according to weight. No ibuprofen when travelling, according to Swiss experts.
• Avoid suppositories in hot countries: they melt.
• No loperamide for young children.
• Rehydration sachets: in a small child, diarrhoea can quickly become dangerous.
• The vaccination record, or a copy of the important pages.

Keep medicines in their box, with the package leaflet, somewhere cool, protected from knocks and out of the reach of children. Check the expiry dates before you leave. While away, read the package leaflet before taking anything, and do not buy medicines at a market or in the street.

1. Fever in a malaria area: see a doctor the same day. A medicine for fever is not enough.
2. Diarrhoea with fever, blood in the stools, or being unable to drink: see a doctor without delay. No loperamide in this case.
3. Severe allergic reaction (swelling of the face, difficulty breathing): use your adrenaline pen and call the emergency services.

In Switzerland, emergencies: 144. Abroad: the local emergency number.

When you get back, tell your doctor about any treatment you took while travelling, especially an antibiotic or a malaria treatment.