Travel medicine and general practice

As the articles in this travel medicine edition of AJGP demonstrate, providing travel health advice is an important role for general practice. In his article on preparing patients for travel,1 Dr Michael Tong notes that most patients who seek pre-travel medical advice do so from their general practitioner (GP). This has consistently been demonstrated in studies both in Australia and other comparable countries.2 As Dr Tong points out, providing high-quality travel health advice in general practice does not simply require knowledge. It also requires a structured approach to the pre-travel consultation, use of guidelines and resources, and practice systems such as longer appointments and consultant checklists. As the COVID-19 pandemic and previous pandemics have illustrated, travel has major public health implications, and risk assessment (including public health risks) is more important than ever with re-emerging and emerging diseases and changing models of travel, such as ecotourism.3