Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: May 3, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 1, 2018 - Jun 15, 2018
Date Accepted: Nov 8, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
The impact of receiving pre-travel health advice in the prevention of Hajj-related illnesses among Australian pilgrims: A cohort study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Pre-travel health advice can play a crucial role in improving both travellers’ awareness about disease risk and compliance with preventive measures; general practitioners (GPs) and the internet have been reported internationally as the main sources of health advice for travellers to non-mass gathering (MG) destinations. However, few studies have attempted to investigate the sources of health advice among travellers to MGs including Hajj pilgrimage, and none of these studies investigated further to measure the impact of pre travel advice on pilgrims’ health behaviours.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of pre-travel health advice (from GPs/specialised Hajj travel agents) on Hajj pilgrims’ awareness of, and compliance with, health recommendations, and on the incidence of Hajj-associated illnesses.
Methods:
A prospective cohort study (pre and during Hajj) was conducted among Australian pilgrims aged ≥18 years in 2015.
Results:
A total of 421 pilgrims participated prior to Hajj, and 391 (93%) providing follow-up data during Hajj. All participants obtained pre-travel health advice from one or more sources, with Hajj travel agents (46%) and general practitioners (GPs) (40%) the most commonly reported sources. Two hundred and eighty eight (74%) participants reported a Hajj-related illness, 86% (248/288) of these were respiratory symptoms. Participants who obtained pre-travel health advice from travel agents were more likely to be aware of the official Saudi recommendations (aOR= 2.1, 95% CI= 1.2 - 3.8, p =0.01), receive recommended vaccines before travel (aOR= 2.4, 95% CI= 1.4 - 3.9, p =0.01), use hand sanitisers (soap) (aOR= 2.5, 95% CI= 1.1-6.1, p =0.03) and wash their hands after touching an ill person during Hajj (aOR= 2.9, 95% CI= 1.1-7.1, p =0.01), compared to those who sought advice from GPs. However, neither advice from travel agents or GPs was associated with a lower incidence of Hajj-related illnesses.
Conclusions:
Advice from travel agents appeared to be accessed by more travellers than that from GPs, and was associated with increased likelihood of positive travel health behaviours. Clinical Trial: NA
Citation
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