Do travel health researchers need to get out more?

Bauer, Irmgard L.

Abstract

[Extract] Dear Editor, The majority of research in travel health and medicine is clinical or medical. However, health is more than just medicine, and health research more than just medical research. Vast areas in travel health remain un-researched due to 1) a reluctance by researchers to join travellers at their destinations and 2) the specialty's unfamiliarity with a wide range of established and validated research methods, the application of which would fill considerable gaps in its current body of knowledge. Ten out of 70 original articles (15%) published in the Journal of Travel Medicine in 2013/2014 studied travellers (though not necessarily tourists) on location. Within the same timeframe, five out of 76 original research papers (6%) published in Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease collected data on location; none on tourists. With these few exceptions, travellers are studied in medical settings either in person (as prospective travellers or patients post-travel) or via their medical records. However, the greater part of travellers will not come near a health facility, and a large number of people, who could contribute to exploring important travel health topics, are lost to science. Therefore, researchers also need to study travellers where they are (on travels) not just before or after a trip. Joining the travelling public independently or through commercially organised trips (cruises, climbing holidays or other organised activities) not only gives access to the study population but lets the researcher experience the context in which the researched topic takes place.

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Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease

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1873-0442

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Elsevier

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DOI

10.1016/j.tmaid.2015.08.003