Maintaining Health Abroad

When leaving the country, you might be armed with excitement and a crowded itinerary, but not necessarily the preparation needed for one of the biggest obstacles abroad: illness.

Getting sick often happens at the worst of times, leading to ruined schedules and stress. It’s no wonder that illness would strike when one sojourns overseas, surrounded by new foods and unfamiliar environments.

Though illness is an uncontrollable variable, there are a few ways to boost your health away from home.

Before traveling, make sure all your vaccinations are up-to-date. Vaccines.gov provides a comprehensive guide to vaccinations, with a tab specifically devoted to travel. A link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expounds upon what vaccinations are needed per region and trip.

If you’re overseas for a while, purchasing travel medical insurance may be a smart investment. Travel.state.gov offers a few choices for providers alongside other travel information regarding safety, visas, and passports.

After the legal preparations come the common sense steps to fighting illness. Simply being aware of one’s future environment can combat certain ailments. For example, if a traveler knows an illness is going around in the country, he can take steps to secure the proper immunizations or avoid the infected areas.

Another way to combat illness is to pack a logical first aid kit. Even if traveling with others, you might lack what another needs or vice versa. Most first aid kits contain the basics of bandages and gauzes, but make sure everything necessary is stocked and applicable to the destination. Keep in mind your personal needs, such as extra bandages for a preexisting injury. If unsure what to pack, redcross.org gives suggestions for what to include in a kit.

Packing vitamins and medicines also helps keep you healthy. If a region has different cuisine, you might miss out on necessary supplements. Medicines such as Ibuprofen and Aspirin can also prove useful for major or minor illnesses. With all things mentioned, make sure your destination or program allows their usage.

Those are the basics for what to pack, but there are some issues that can only be dealt with while abroad. One of them is the environment. Certain regions have pollution, temperatures, or weather phenomenons that may affect travel and health. In those instances, it’s best to be prepared, but also ready to adapt to cultural solutions such as donning a mask or staying indoors.

Another factor that may lead toward illness is foreign food. While trying new cuisine may be tasty, it can have unfortunate effects upon your health. This can be a bit tricky when confronted with decorum, but you know yourself and your limits the best.

What to do when actually victim to illness? Know who to contact and be able to communicate. Not all travelers speak the language of the country they’re visiting. Aside from the basic conversational phrases, knowing words for emergencies can prevent unnecessary stress. If you need assistance, know how to contact fellow travelers or nearby medical facilities.

Don’t forget, only some places have radiant health codes, so brandishing a few packages of baby wipes and hand sanitizer never hurts.

How to cure homesickness? Try taking along some favorite snacks, letters, photos, or a reliable plushie. Keeping in contact via global apps such as LINE or QQ can also relieve loneliness.

Other than that, being flexible and using intuition may be the best attributes when seeking health overseas. Stay healthy!

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Christina Van Otterloo is a summer intern for Voyage Study Abroad. She is pursuing her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in anthropology at Arizona State University. After graduating she hopes to be a cultural journalist, educating all ages about various cultures and lifestyles both abroad and stateside. She enjoys learning about different cultures, studying languages, and listening to others’ experiences. Born in India, she was adopted into a Dutch family and raised in a Dutch community. Growing up in an ethnically-uniform bubble led her explore cultural diversity through means such as television shows, video games, and books. College provided more cultural insight through friends and classes, which encouraged her to write for the sake of cultural awareness. Christina has traveled to different states in America as well as China and Canada abroad. Her pastimes revolve around manga and foreign music. She currently resides in Modesto, California.
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