There is no point in travelling anywhere if on arrival you find you cannot get into the country due to not having the requisite medical certificates, or, having successfully arrived, fall prey to a local illness and have your trip ruined. There are many traps for the unwary: some quite surprising countries make an equally surprising level of medical demands of the prospective traveler from the UK. Enquiries to travel agents and similar enquiry agencies are not always dealt with accurately and even a phone call to the relevant embassy might not be taken by somebody who actually knows their own country’s requirements. There is no formal requirement for doctors to know what is needed, their role is simply to administer whatever is specified, such as the yellow fever, polio and other injections for my own abortive trip to Nigeria a few years ago and the range of injections for a trip to Nepal many years ago.
Obviously, then, there is a clear market opportunity for somebody offering comprehensive advice on an international scale. That is just what we have here. This is a simple alphabetical list of countries with a page to each giving vital (in this case literally) information in a series of boxes: location and climate; key facts; thumbnail sketch map; general risks; food and drink; vaccination requirements; useful telephone numbers (UK embassy and local emergency, etc.); medical facilities (directory of major hospitals and ambulance services in each country); and health provision. Also throughout the volume is scattered a range of shaded boxes with non‐country specific practical hints: advice for disabled travelers, disease‐spreading insects, children, adventure travel, precautions for high altitudes, sea hazards, and many more similar topics. The only problem with these is in finding them. They are neither listed in the contents page nor indexed. The introduction also gives general medical information and notes on a range of major diseases, emergency and similar facilities, as well as advice on hygiene matters and requirements for travelers anywhere. Taken altogether it is enough to make you want to stay at home.
The result is an absolute mine of information. The volume carries standard disclaimers (after all health requirements can change at very short notice) but I know of nowhere else where one will find such complete practical ‐ therefore useful ‐ information on such an enormous range of countries: the Cook Islands, the US Virgin Islands, Vanuatu and others, for example, are all treated individually. This is excellent value for its price not only to airlines, travel agents and the like, but also for reference libraries.
