Your Health and Safety while undertaking a Hospital Internship in Kenya

Your Health and Safety while undertaking a Hospital Internship in Kenya

One of the biggest and major concerns for anyone traveling to a foreign country either to undertake a healthcare internship or for any other activity is safety. We all want to travel to destinations that are safe and at the end of our trip get back to our families and friends in one piece. At Elective Africa, we are keen to ensure that your program and all activities are safe. Right from your arrival at the airport, to your residence, to the hospital, excursions and back to the airport for your flight back home

Safety Advice for International Trips

When going abroad, you get to experience all the beautiful cultures that make up our world. Many people are wary of international travel, however, fearing that it is dangerous. For the most part, traveling throughout the world is very safe. This being said, there are safety precautions that every traveler should employ to ensure that their trip remains a joyous one. Here are 12 top safety tips for you international travelers.

• Get a Checkup and the Appropriate Vaccines: Always have a physical before your trip to ensure that you are healthy enough to travel abroad, and make sure that you understand the health concerns of the country you are planning to visit. Numerous worldwide travel destinations require vaccinations before your arrival, so make sure that you know the immunizations you need and that you are immunized before your trip.
• Make Electronic Copies of Your Documents: You’ll be carrying necessary documentation with you when traveling abroad. Create an electronic backup of your immunization record, itinerary, medical insurance card, passport, plane tickets, travel insurance, and visas before you leave. Email the file to yourself and keep it in your inbox so you can access the information from your smartphone should the paperwork be lost or damaged.
• Don’t Carry Everything Together: It might be tempting to keep your cash, credit cards, identification, and traveler’s checks in your wallet, but don’t do it. Keep any money, credit cards, IDs, and checks you won’t be using locked in your hotel room safe. Separate the monetary and identifying items you must carry on you and carry them in different spots on your person. This safety tip prevents you from losing everything should somebody steal your wallet.
• Don’t Carry Things in Your Back Pocket: Speaking of theft, pickpocketing is common in specific areas around the world, and yes, pickpockets have been known to target tourists. Do not keep anything in your back pocket, including your wallet, a small purse, your hotel room keys… anything! Doing so opens you up to becoming an easy target for the swift hand of a pickpocket.
• Look Back When Leaving: The previous tip often helps prevent leaving things behind; after all, if you have your purse strap wrapped around your leg, you’ll trip over it getting up if you don’t remove it. People do, however, leave personal items behind all the time when they’re ready to move on to their next destination. Look back at where you were sitting as you’re going just to make sure you didn’t forget your purse, shopping bags, or anything else of importance.
• Leave the “Bling” at Home: It might be tempting to wear your favorite jewelry throughout your trip or take pictures with that new, costly camera, but in the interest of your safety, don’t. If you tour your international destination dressed to the nines and wearing all sorts of expensive jewelry, you are announcing to potential thieves that you are a worthy mugging target. Keep it simple and appropriate for the place you are visiting, and hide your camera in a case when you aren’t using it.
• Avoid Using Your Credit Card at Internet Cafes: With the advent of the Internet, criminals have found a new way to commit identity theft. Internet cafes are trendy among travelers. They are a quick and easy way to grab a cup of coffee while emailing the latest details of your adventure to your family and friends. Criminals keep a wary eye and use keylogger software on the computers in Internet cafes to obtain your credit card information, so pay for the computer use with cash.
• Be Properly Insured: Many people are of the opinion that they do not need travel insurance, and nothing could be further from the truth (review Common Myths about Travel Insurance). Your health insurance might offer you some international coverage, but the chances are good that it doesn’t cover potential illness, injury, or even death entirely when you are on foreign soil. Your belongings need to be insured, too, for the simple reason that anything might happen to them. Make sure that you, your fellow travelers, and everything you are taking on the trip is properly insured before leaving.

Adopted from International insurance.com, featuring article “ 12 Top Safety Tips for the International Traveler”

How Does Elective Africa Ensure of Your Health and Safety?

At Elective Africa your health and safety while abroad with us is our number one priority thus we always do everything possible to make sure that you are safe with us. Below are some of the precautionary measures that we have put in place to make sure that you are healthy and safe with us.

• Medical checkups and Vaccinations

Once you sign up for our programs, you are given access to a pre-departure guide which is a document which lists all the vaccines that you are to undertake before traveling to the country. Before travel, you will also have a pre-departure training with one of our placement advisors who will take you through the pre-departure guide and have a checklist of all the items including the vaccines that you should take before travel. Always make sure you have the recommended vaccines on time to avoid inconveniences while traveling. We always recommend that you also visit your GP before traveling to get the best medical advice depending on your medical history

2. Travel and health insurance

We advise that all our participants always have a travel and health insurance cover before traveling abroad. Though most people believe that they do not need a travel and health insurance cover while traveling, this is not true. You may get sick while abroad or even lose some of your belongings, what do you do then? This way the importance of the travel and health insurance comes in handy

3. Never carry your original documents when traveling around

We as much as possible want to ensure that your documents are also very safe. We discourage participants as much as possible from carrying their original documents while walking around their placement locations or while having local excursions. You never know, they could be pick pocketed or you could even loose them and it will take some processes before you are sorted.

4. On ground support

At Elective Africa, we have 24/7 on ground support in the case they want to reach out to any of our staff. Our on ground operations coordinators are also always available through out at our placement locations to help out in whatever you want to do or in the case of any emergencies

5. Our Accommodation Choices

We accommodate our students in safe, secure and comfortable student houses which are surrounded with electric fence and have 24-hour security guards to enhance the security. This in addition all our accommodation choices are usually private houses and not home stays, that way we can manage the safety of our students.

While travelling abroad is very enriching, staying healthy ensures that you have a seamless trip abroad. Reach out to us if you need further advice on the health and safety preparations as you plan to travel abroad.

by Elective Africa