The following requirements are applicable for admission on the Travel Medicine Course: (If these criteria are not met, you application will not be successful).

Target group: The course is aimed at licensed health care practitioners who are already involved in travel medicine or who intend to set up practice in travel health care.

Minimum operational requirements: Please refer to Starting a Clinic on the Menu for the minimum operational requirements for establishing a Travel Medicine Clinic.

Other requirements:

SASTM has the following requirements for the operation of Travel Medicine Clinics and these requirements are applicable for admission to the course:

Individuals who practice travel medicine should be licensed health-care practitioners (e.g. a registered nurse and a medical practitioner working collaboratively) with a background in family practice, internal medicine, paediatrics, public health or infectious diseases. 

A medical practitioner, suitably qualified in travel medicine and who has a yellow fever license, must be in overall charge of a Travel Medicine Clinic.  The overseeing medical practitioner must give proof of attending a Travel Medicine Course, Refresher Course, Congress or Update meeting pertaining to the discipline of Travel Medicine in the past five years.

The medical practitioner will assume medico-legal responsibility for and oversee the entire operation of the Travel Medicine Clinic.  

The knowledge base is broad, and it is for this reason that a Travel Medicine Clinic must be supervised by a health-care professional as indicated above. The core knowledge includes a basic knowledge and understanding of the following:

  • Geography
  • Global distribution, epidemiology, mode of transmission, prevention and, if appropriate, self-treatment of travel-associated infectious diseases.
  • Immunology and the immune system.
  • Indications, contraindications, pharmacology, drug interactions and adverse events of available travel-related drugs and vaccines. 
  • Preventions and management of non-infectious disease risks for travellers.
  • Aside from the skills required to practice as a health care professional, the following skills are mandatory for the travel medicine practitioner:
  • The ability to undertake a basic health assessment.  
  • Evaluation of any underlying health problems.

The assessment of the health of the traveller is an important aspect of the pre-travel consultation. This would often necessitate examination of the traveller, evaluation of underlying or concurrent chronic conditions, general health and providing information to obtain optimal control of chronic illness.

  • Individual risk assessment to determine the traveller’s health risks.
  • Risk reduction strategies
  • Recognition of any travel-related illness 
  • All post-travel consultations should be managed by a medical practitioner        
  • Timely medical assessment for the management of travel-related illness