The CDC Foundation, which supports the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has put up a new publication urging business travelers to protect their health when they travel internationally and steering them to resources to help.
It’s a smart idea backed by some eye-opening statistics:
- Cost of a course of malaria prophylaxis drugs: $162. Cost of being hospitalized with malaria on return: $25,250.
- Cost of taking the two-dose hepatitis A vaccine: $300. Cost of treatment for a case of hep A: $2,500.
- Cost of medical evacuation insurance: $370. Cost of a medical emergency evacuation: up to $250,000.
The site urges business travelers to see a medical professional, but it also steers them to travel-advice pages, and links to a downloadable travel-medicine reference (Kindle, iOS, Android). It also offers something I hadn’t seen before: an advice app that lets you choose the country you’re visiting and then answers that crucial traveler’s question: “Can I eat this?”
Here’s a graphic the Foundation put together to explain why pursuing medical advice — and vaccines, prophylactic drugs and insurance — is an important business issue for both employee health and lost workdays:
courtesy CDC Foundation. (original)
