Tomorrow marks the 42nd anniversary of the Department of Transportation’s first day of operation. And today marks the announcement of the recipients of the 3rd annual Dotty Awards – the annual recognition of those travelers you hope to avoid on your travels. Enjoy reading about these “winners” and feel free to share with us your own out-of-the-ordinary experiences!
At the Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas (FAWCO) annual conference in Boston earlier this month, Paula Lucas, the founder of one of the local chapters, told her personal story of trying to escape domestic violence while abroad in an interview aired on National Public Radio’s Here and Now saying “You have the perception that your (American) freedoms travel with you — and they don’t.” This is especially true of women who find themselves in a country that minimizes their rights.
One of the core missions of FAWCO is to provide a voice for American women abroad and to support the rights of Americans worldwide. Paula Lucas founded the Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center after she escaped from Dubai where she and her children had suffered physical abuse at the hands of her first husband. The local police were of no help because in that country fathers are allowed to discipline their children in any way they see fit. She had lobbied for help from the U.S. embassy, and U.S.-based family members worked the state department, their senators and representatives for help, but no government official wanted to intervene for fear of causing an international incident. It was solely up to Paula to get herself and her sons out. (Use the link to the radio interview above to hear how).
Paula doesn’t want other women to have to endure what she went through, and she knows the limits of finding the help you need abroad – a lot of shelters don’t speak English, you don’t have access to your own money, you don’t have a support network or anyone to talk to. Now word of help is getting out. Last month The American Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center call volume grew 330% over 2009. The Center can be reached internationally toll-free (866-USWOMEN) from 175 countries. It’s a source of assistance and support for abused Americans, mostly women and children, in both civilian and military populations overseas. The center answered 1,500 calls and helped 300 families last year.
HTB is digging into women’s rights issues around the world. Check back with us soon to see how countries compare.
Previous posts have highlighted happiness, the velocity of life, ethics and environmental factors as important characteristics of healthy destinations. Now a new analysis of Gallup poll data by researchers at Cambridge University isolates another key to health and happiness: tolerance. Working with data from 380,000 Americans polled in 2008, the Cambridge team found that “inclusiveness”—tolerance of bohemian and alternative lifestyles—raised the happiness index significantly in many states, including three that made the top ten: California, Minnesota and Massachusetts. It seems freedom of expression and lower pressure to conform give people the chance to pursue and perhaps fulfill their own definition of happiness. Health and well-being seem to walk hand-in-hand with a tolerant approach to life. Do you agree?
Two stories concerning mosquitoes caught my attention recently. In the age-old “bad news, good news” tradition, it goes like this:
“The bad news is that if you drink beer, mosquitoes are more attracted to you and may bite you and give you malaria. The good news is that scientists have developed a mosquito that could, in theory, vaccinate you against malaria with each bite.”
The first study, Beer Consumption Increases Human Attractiveness to Malaria Mosquitoes, was conducted in Burkina Faso by a team of researchers led by Thierry Lefèvre from Emory University and published by PLoS ONE, an interactive open-access journal. It concluded that “beer consumption consistently increased volunteers’ attractiveness to mosquitoes.” The researchers believe that the alcohol in the local beer causes the increased attractiveness; however, further studies are necessary to eliminate other possibilities. I saw that the local beer is fairly low in alcohol content and wondered what the curve would look like as the strength varied. Is it a linear relationship, or would it yield an upside-down “U” shape? If the latter, one could stick to more toxic drinks (although this flies in the face of the researchers who also noted that alcohol consumption has other negative health effects and can lower one’s ability to defend against parasites and other threats to the immune system). I was lucky enough to learn about the African drink, dawa, from my wife (it was a huge hit on our wedding night). Dawa means “medicine” or “magical potion” in Swahili and is a much stronger drink than the local beer in Burkina Faso, so perhaps they already know about the shape of the curve.
The second study, Flying vaccinator; a transgenic mosquito delivers a Leishmania vaccine via blood feeding, was published in the April 2010 issue of Insect Molecular Biology and conducted by Associate Professor Shigeto Yoshida and his research team from Jichi Medical University. Unfortunately, there are ethical issues with using wild mosquitoes (are there domesticated ones?) to transmit a vaccine. How would the pharmas get paid for it, for example? Oh, yeah, that is not an ethical issue so much as an economical one. In all seriousness, it does sound like this idea may be years away if it ever gets off the ground (no pun intended). The mere fact that they did successfully use the mosquito’s saliva to deliver the payload, however, does hold promise for other therapies in the future.
Malaria is a very serious problem worldwide, affecting hundreds of millions of people each year and killing millions, mostly sub-Saharan children. If you took the time to read this, please think about helping to stop this disease and perhaps contributing to a worthy organization. It is money well spent. Also, if you are traveling to areas where malaria is a risk, learn about which preventive medicine is right for you and make sure that you take it.
Tourism has exploded in the Central Asia region. The exquisite mountains, closed for many years to the West, now attract growing numbers of foreign visitors who are drawn by their natural and unspoiled beauty. Government officials, hungry for the revenue that tourism generates, are fearful of international scandal. As a result, there is little transparency when it comes to disclosing failures in infrastructure, including health care systems.
The announcement this week by authorities in Uzbekistan that at least 14 children had died and that another 133 are infected with HIV from contaminated medical equipment is a sober reminder that health care in underdeveloped countries remains perilous. Reports of similar incidents in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, should make anyone travelling to the former Eastern Soviet bloc wary of the medical treatment they might receive.
Complicating matters further, the government of Uzbekistan is widely believed to have covered up reports in 2007 that HIV contaminated needles and syringes were used to immunize toddlers in the city of Namangan. Indeed, the details only came to light this week when news broke that 12 doctors and nurses at two hospitals in the city were convicted of using contaminated equipment. Moreover, Uzbek activist Maxim Popov, who distributed brochures saying condoms and disposable syringes could help prevent HIV, was convicted of corrupting minors by promoting homosexuality, prostitution and drug use. He was sentenced to seven years in jail.
The United Nations says Uzbekistan has one of the world’s fastest-rising HIV infection rates. About 16,000 cases of HIV/AIDS were reported in 2009 — more than an eleven-fold increase from 1,400 cases in 2001, a World Health Organization report said. Not all of the increase can be attributed to transmission through contaminated needles, however, as the rate of illegal drug use and sexually transmitted diseases has skyrocketed in recent years.
American tourists must prepare before travelling to Central Asia. As in many underdeveloped regions of the world, most health care remains substandard. However, risks may be minimized with the proper vetting of medical providers – hospitals and doctors – prior to departure. If you are heading for Tashkent, Almaty or Dusanbe, ask your travel health plan or assistance company for a contingency plan.
HTH Worldwide’s COO is in France today and just sent me an urgent email from his BlackBerry. His daughter needs Lactaid®, but they can’t find it anywhere. It would seem that a country that is the world’s largest exporter, the third largest producer and, most importantly, the second largest consumer of cheese would have discovered the benefits of Lactaid®, a dietary supplement that contains a natural lactase enzyme that helps you break down lactose.
From my research, Lactaid® is only available in the U.S. and Canada. There is a great forum discussion that took place in 2005 on Wordreference.com on the subject. It talks about the history of Europe and dairy farming, lactose facts (there is more in milk and ice cream, less in cheese, especially hard cheeses), lactose intolerance levels in different geographic regions and even the availability of public restrooms in Paris. For a much more scientific background, check out the Wikipedia lactose intolerance page.
I am now more aware than ever of lactose intolerance and even learned that February is Lactose Intolerance Awareness Month. I will try not to miss the exciting events next year (things like “Be kind to your bloated, uncomfortable, and sometimes odoriferous workmate” or “Promote a no-cone zone in your lunchroom”).
If you have no tolerance for lactose, don’t leave the U.S. and Canada without your own supply of Lactaid!
I admit that I am prone to seasickness. Even though I once participated in competitive sailing, it seems that any time I am on a boat that isn’t moving a whole lot, or is stuck in an ocean of swells, I turn green. Being seasick is one of the worst feelings, mostly because there is no place to go for relief. You are stuck on the boat and literally need to ride it out. Due to this history of mine (I once got sick the night before a fishing trip just dreaming about the day ahead), I was a little hesitant to jump on board the decision to take a family cruise to the Caribbean for spring break. Also contributing to this hesitancy is the fact that I had read the late David Foster Wallace’s title essay in “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again” many years ago. This decidedly negative piece that he wrote for Harper’s recounted his experiences on a one week trip aboard a cruise ship.
However, after a little research I learned that the large size of the ships and the generally good weather conditions this time of year in the Caribbean drastically reduce the chance of my getting seasick. I will still be prepared by taking along some Bonine, vitamin B6 and ginger – all common treatments for nausea. There is also scopolamine, which is a prescription drug normally used in the form of a small, circular, transdermal patch worn behind the ear. It is also available in pill form. I am not worried enough to go that route, however.
What worries me far more is a little thing called norovirus. It seems that as soon as we booked our trip, I started reading about horrible outbreaks of illness on cruise ships. Doing a quick Google News search for “+norovirus +cruise” turns up 859 hits in the last day! A small sampler of headlines:
Countering this concern was information from the CDC that outbreaks had been dropping in recent years: 34 in 2006, 21 in 200, and 15 each in 2008 and 2009. However, 2010 is tracking about 50% ahead of those last two years. The CDC has a web page listing the outbreaks by ship. I won’t jinx our ship by naming it here, but it had an outbreak in 2006. Luckily, it was the only one listed. I will be going over all of the cruising tips provided by the CDC with my family repeatedly and keeping my fingers crossed. I also will be packing some Purell with my Bonine.
I will be sure to follow up with a post on how the trip went. Hopefully, the post will focus on non-health related issues.
On Sunday, March 14, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for the Northern Mexican States of Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua, and authorized the departure of the dependents of U.S. government personnel from consulates in the Northern Mexican border cities of Tijuana, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo, Monterrey and Matamoros until April 12. The travel warning supersedes the prior warning of February 22, 2010, and is in response to the slaying of U.S. consulate employee Lesley Enriquez and her husband Arthur Redelf, along with the killing of the husband of another U.S. consulate employee. Two children were also seriously hurt.
Although the investigation is not complete, both slayings were in the city of Juarez, and authorities believe that the murders were the work of a drug cartel. Recent confrontations between Mexican police and drug cartels have resembled warfare, with the deployment of automatic weapons and grenades. During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been inadvertently trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area. Last week’s attack on U.S. officials has taken the violence to a new level. “It’s a line that we didn’t think the criminals would cross, but they did. It creates a lot of more worries for us,” said Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz.
The past two years have experienced a significant increase in the crime rate along the U.S.-Mexican border, particularly with incidents of petty theft, carjacking, robbery and homicide. The biggest spikes have been in Chihuahua, Sinaloa and northern Baja California, as well as the border cities of Juarez, Tijuanaand Nogales,all popular destinations for U.S. citizens. Travelers on both public and toll highways have been targeted for robbery and violence, with the vast majority of incidents occurring at night. Non-essential travel to these areas is now being discouraged by the U.S. State Department.
Mexican authorities are quick to point out, however, that popular beach resorts such as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and even Rosarito Beach have not seen significant increases in crime since the Mexican government began the crackdown on drug trafficking in 2006. Nonetheless, travel agencies are reporting that students and leisure travelers alike are booking more travel to Central America (e.g. Costa Rica and Panama) and Europe, and less travel to Mexico than in years past. Recent surveys suggest that tourism in Mexico has fallen off by as much as 30 to 40 percent in some parts of Northern Mexico.
Are you planning a trip to a beach resort in Mexico? If so, will the travel warning for the Northern States affect the decisions you make regarding your vacation plans?
One of the most basic aspects of safe travel is getting to and from your destination safely, and if you are driving you have more control over this than with other modes of transportation. In the past we’ve covered safe driving in general and identified some areas across the globe with particularly unsafe roads. Recently, Reader’s Digest released the results of a study of U.S. road conditions, ranking each state’s roads as well as identifying both particularly good and bad highways.
Reader’s Digest ranked the general condition of the roads in each state using information from the Federal Highway Administration including safety, congestion, and condition of roads and bridges. The deadliest roads are ranked based on the number of fatalities per 100 million miles driven. If you are planning a road trip in the U.S., check out the lists to see what you can expect. Be careful in Montana which is ranked number one for deadliest roads and deadliest occurrences of DUI.
Finally, you can also check out the 22 bad roads and 9 good ones they identified and route your trips with this knowledge. Perhaps someday GPS devices will be able to give you the safest along with the fastest and shortest routes.
As always, don’t contribute to the problem: Buckle up, don’t drink and drive and keep your eyes on the road and the cars (and other vehicles) around you.
If the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day has you envisioning yourself backpacking through the lush greenery of Ireland, put down your Guinness, and pick up a pen. It’s time to make a list. Better yet, just bookmark this blog post.
After you choose an initial destination, or at least an arrival and departure point, you should research the area for basic information related to weather conditions, security and availability of health services. If you’ve never backpacked before, pick up a backpackers guide to help fine-tune your plan based on your destination. Amazon.com gives The Backpacker’s Handbook five stars, but there are several others to choose from.
As you count down the days to your adventure, you can busy yourself by gathering some basic essentials for your trip. Remember you will be carrying whatever you pack, so pack lightly, but don’t exclude the most important items:
1) One set of extra clothes. These clothes should be kept dry at all times and should ideally be made of a synthetic material (like nylon) that won’t absorb too much moisture and will dry quickly.
2) Food. Pack snacks that are light and not bulky, full of calories, and easy to prepare. You can stack up on freeze-dried backpacking meals, quinoa, pasta, grains or dehydrated fruits and vegetables.
3) Water. Bring water purification tablets and a canteen or aluminum water bottle that is easy to carry.
4) Sunglasses. If you’re going to be under the open sky, you’ll want to protect your eyes.
5) An all-in-one tool such as a Leatherman or Swiss army knife. Note that you don’t want to try to board an airplane with this in your carry-on. So check yours or purchase one once you arrive at your destination.
6) A fire starter and/or matches. These should be kept in a plastic bag to avoid moisture damage.
7) First aid kit. This should include an assortment of bandages, some pain killers, and an antiseptic to clean out cuts. You may need to include items specific to your destination, e.g. if you are going to an area that has a notable snake population, you will need a snake-bite kit.
8) Flashlight. Look for a pocket size flashlight or head lamp with a bright central beam.
9) Map. Find the most up to date version of a map covering the area you will be hiking through.
10) Compass. What good is map without a compass?
Some additional items that you could include are sunblock, insect repellent and a sleeping bag. Again, the extras will depend on where you are going. As with any trip, bring your common sense; it won’t take up any room in your backpack and can save you from most hazards you could encounter on your journey.
