Synopsis
Perform an individual pre-travel risk assessment, prioritise vaccine and malaria decisions, support travellers with additional risks and provide practical prevention and post-travel safety advice.
- Base advice on the traveller, itinerary and activities: age, pregnancy, immune status, conditions, medicines, allergies, previous vaccines, destination, season, duration, accommodation, rural exposure and access to care all matter.
- Check every destination and transit point against current TravelHealthPro country information and FCDO travel advice; recommendations and outbreaks can change after the consultation.
- Arrange assessment ideally four to six weeks before travel, earlier for complex illness or pregnancy, but still offer a useful risk review to last-minute travellers.
Reasoning priorities
Identify factors that alter vaccine, prophylaxis and travel fitness decisions.
Verify diagnoses, pregnancy, immune status, organ function, allergies, medicines and documented immunisation history.
Worked reasoning
A 34-year-old leaves in nine days for three weeks, staying with relatives in two regions of a malaria-risk country; vaccine records are incomplete and the patient takes regular medicines.
- Confirm regions, dates, rural and urban exposure, accommodation, activities and transit; assess conditions, pregnancy possibility, allergies, medicines, previous reactions and verifiable vaccine history.
- Check the live TravelHealthPro country pages, 2026 UKHSA malaria guidance, Green Book and FCDO advice; distinguish routine catch-up, recommended vaccines, certificate requirements and subnational malaria risk.
- Agree the final action: deliver only indicated vaccines using authorised schedules, select or refer for appropriate malaria prophylaxis after medicine-specific screening, and prioritise bite, food, road, insurance and medicine-carriage advice despite limited time.
- Verify before departure that written schedules, follow-up doses, malaria start timing, entry documents and urgent fever advice are understood; document declined or unavailable interventions and a safer itinerary alternative if protection cannot be achieved.