Travel Health Knowledge, Attitude and Practices among Egyptian Travelers, Part1; Risk Perception, Health Seeking Behavior and Subjective Evaluation of Travel Health Services in Egypt

2017 Journal of Community Medicine & Public Health  
international civilian travel globally has experienced continued expansion. Outbound travel is increasing in Egypt. The travel health practice and research in Egypt lag behind both needs and demands. Therefore, this study was done in two parts to assess travel health KAP among Egyptian Travelers. Methods: this survey was conducted at the departure halls of Cairo International Airport and included 1500 travelers to Africa (excluding North Africa), Southeast Asia or Latin America An interview
more » ... tionnaire that measures the KAP of travelers inquiring about socio-demographic data, previous travel history, current journey details, perception of travel-associated risks, presence of risks management plans and details about the received pre-travel health services and travel health-information seeking behavior. Subjective evaluation of travel health services and suggestions for improvement were also inquired about. Results: the travelers were mainly males; 89.3%, less than 40 years (82%), living in urban residence (89.1), married (65.9%), university educated (83.3), traveling for work (69.1%) and their destination was Africa (61.3%), Asia (28.4%) and Latin America (10.3). They had poor travel-associated risk perception and only 13.4% had risk management plan. Less than half (42.4%) sought any information about destination and 11.9% sought health information and their source of information was mainly internet (98.7%). The majority had poor level of various travel related practices including seeking pre-travel health services (87.9%), receiving pre-travel vaccines (91.3%) and using malaria chemoprophylaxis (90.6%). The travel health services were rated good by 0.5% of travelers and bad, very bad or undetermined by 11.4%, 61.3% and 26.9% respectively. Conclusion: Egyptian travelers, although mostly educated, had poor travel health perception and practice and are unsatisfied by the travel health services in Egypt.
doi:10.29011/2577-2228.100021 fatcat:dj3cxkej4vdszjd2sadzrqbwhm