Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) established the “Travel Clinic” on June 11, 2007 to offer the public with vaccine and antibiotic prophylaxes to prevent infectious diseases.By January 18, 2008, over 2300 people have visited the “Travel Clinic”.Nevertheless, Taiwan CDC is not a health-care institution that can provide wide-ranging counseling to people who wish to travel abroad and comprehensive medical care to the affected travelers.Hence, Taiwan CDC and National Taiwan University Hospital have co-established the “Training Center for Travel Medicine” that offers integrative health consultation and medical service.The launch ceremony of the “Training Center for Travel Medicine” was attended by both the Minister of the Department of Health, Dr. Sheng-Mou Hou, and the Superintendent of National Taiwan University Hospital, Dr. Fang-Yue Lin, on January 25, 2008.In addition, a special outpatient service in travel medicine has also been set up at the “Training Center for Travel Medicine”.The office hours are between 9:00-12:00 am, and 13:30-17:00 pm Monday through Friday (excluding national holidays).Furthermore, to provide more convenience and further expand the scope of the existing services offered by the Training Center for Travel Medicine to the public, Taiwan CDC has signed contracts with 8 different hospitals (as enclosed in the attachment) located in Northern, Central Southern and Eastern parts of Taiwan that agreed to offer outpatient services in travel medicine to the public.The former “Travel Clinic” at Taiwan CDC will be closed down beginning February 1, 2008.
Taiwan CDC has pointed out that the newly established “Training Center for Travel Medicine” does not only provide the public with generalservices for information concerning international travel health and perform subsequent follow-up of the affected travelers after returning to Taiwan, but also conducts training and researches related to travel medicine, thus educating more experts in the field of travel medicine.
Over the recent years, an increase in the outbound travel frequency from Taiwan has been noted. The potential risk to health that is brought about by travel does not merely affect the health of the tourists themselves, but also the health of the general public.At present, certain infectious diseases that have been eradicated or are rarely seen in Taiwan are still prevalent in some other countries.If no preventive measures are taken prior to traveling abroad, the chance of catching an illness during traveling is high, thus compromising personal health.Nonetheless, if one becomes affected by an infectious disease during traveling, he/she can receive medical treatment at the special outpatient service in travel medicine after returning to Taiwan and be followed up by the same outpatient service.
“International Travel Infectious Disease Consultation” is a topic highly valued by the World Health Organization (WHO).To stay in line with the international community, the “Training Center for Travel Medicine” has been established to provide the public with integrative health consultation and medical service, and organize professional training and researches for medical personnel. Moreover, the data collected by the Training Center for Travel Medicine can be analyzed and forwarded to relevant agencies, which can serve as a reference for formulating policies, promoting the development of travel medicine in Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region.