Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
All the contributors to this study designed the study protocol and questionnaire. All the authors contributed to the drafting and revision of the manuscript. IS prepared the first draft of the manuscript and conducted the data analysis. IS, LB, and MG provided and processed the data. All the authors reviewed the results and contributed to the interpretation of the data. All the authors participated in the interpretation of the results and revisions of the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Authors’ information
Ibrahim Shad (MD)
○ Associate Professor in the Public Health Dept., Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University.
○ The author had many research publications in the field of travel health, maternal health, breast feeding, reproductive health, infectious diseases epidemiology, non-communicable epidemiology, quality assurance in medical practice and quality of life associated with different medical problems.
○ The author had good experience in the field of International Health regulations, travel medicine, preparing and managing emergency plan during the occurrence of Health Event of International Concern according to WHO guidelines training health care professional on the application of IHR.
○ The author hold a medical doctorate of public health, preventive medicine and social health from Mansoura University, faculty of medicine since 2002.
Mohammed Gaafer (MD)
○ Professor in the Public Health Dept., Faculty of Medicine, Menofyia University.
○ The author had many research publications in the field of TB and infectious diseases, travel health, infectious diseases epidemiology, non-communicable epidemiology and others.
○ The author had good experience in the field of TB prevention and statistics.
○ The author hold a medical doctorate of public health and community medicine from Menofyia University, faculty of medicine.
Lamiaa Bassiony (MD)
○ Associate Professor in the Public Health Dept., Faculty of Medicine, Menofyia University.
○ The author had many research publications in the field of infectious diseases epidemiology, non-communicable diseases epidemiology and others.
○ The author had good experience in the field of prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
○ The author hold a medical doctorate of public health and community medicine from Menofyia University, faculty of medicine.
Endnotes and Summary
What is already known
- International travel and health is of concern regarding the spread of international threats, especially infectious diseases with attendant public health concerns, such as yellow fever, meningococcal meningitis, influenza, malaria, and others.
- Traveling to West and South Africa as well as to South America carries the risk of catching yellow fever, meningitis, and malaria; traveling to Far East regions may carry the risk of catching malaria and respiratory viruses, especially influenza and related viruses.
What this paper adds
- This paper adds information on the determinants of utilization of the travelers' health services. There have been no studies of this issue in the Arabic Gulf region.
- This paper enforces the fact that factors related to travelers' personal and social factors play an important role in determining the utilization of travelers' health services. Some factors of travel can significantly affect the utilization of travelers' health services (including region of travel, accommodations, type of journey, duration of stay, previous travel, and knowledge of the services provided by the travelers' health clinic as well as its location and working hours).
Policy Implications
• This study attempted to determine the factors underlying the utilization of travelers' health services.
• This is a comparative analytical study comparing two groups (a traveler group that utilized travelers’ health services and a non-utilization travelers group that was matched to the first group).
• The study employed questionnaires and personal interviews.
• Other factors determining the utilization of services were adjusted.
• Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to predict factors that could affect the utilization of travelers’ health services.
• Certain socio-demographic data may affect utilization significantly, such as nationality.
• Related factors included the purpose of travel (work or leisure), destination (Africa, followed by South America), locations visited at the destination (rural), duration of stay (longer than four weeks), history of past travel (frequent visitors), and knowledge of travelers’ health services.
• Health education can play an important role in increasing the degree of utilization of travelers’ health services, particularly if health education is directed to the targeted population