Travelling with children

Children generally adapt well to the change involved in travel, but they still must have their specific needs met. They don’t have experience in dealing with new and often less safe situations, so one of the most important pieces of advice a general practitioner can give a patient intending to travel with a child is to ensure the child is never left alone.

In general, children are more prone to illness, but they can recover amazingly quickly. Examples of common problems include respiratory, gastrointestinal and skin infectious, trauma, sunburn and insect bites. Two infectious diseases deserving special mention are diarrhoea and malaria.