Photo Courtesy of MSF

Today is National Doctor’s Day, and we would like to recognize those who have made a difference by bringing better health to communities all over the world. One particular group, Médecins Sans Frontières, has impacted the lives of millions throughout the globe and forever changed the face of international public health and humanitarian aid. A key tenet of the organization is that borders are political boundaries, and we must prioritize people’s health and rights above these boundaries.

Image courtesy of MSF. Click here to view an interactive timeline of MSF’s work and history.

In 1968, a series of protests broke out all over the world in response to social conflicts, and many of these protests were rebellions against military and bureaucratic elites. The Parisian protests in May of that year were some of the most significant in history. Ten million workers and students took to the streets of Paris, France, in an effort to overthrow the government of General Charles de Gaulle. Amid these upheavals, a group of young doctors came together and decided to do something about the worldwide issues of war and famine. They sought out to recreate the concept of emergency aid.

They decided to travel around the world to find and help victims of war and disease. Not only would they reinvent the idea of emergency aid, but they also succeeded in creating a new brand of humanitarianism. This group would later become known as Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders.
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January 24, 2015 marked six months since the last polio case had been reported in Nigeria. The country has been aggressively working toward eliminating polio, and has shown a 92 percent decrease between 2013 and 2014. Polio is a viral disease that if not vaccinated for, can lead to paralysis, difficulty breathing, and in certain cases, death. There are two types of polio that can be contracted from the poliovirus, these include: non-paralytic polio and paralytic polio. In the case of non-paralytic polio, flu-like symptoms are most commonly displayed for a period of around 10 days. Paralytic polio is rare, but can affect the spinal cord, brainstem, or both. Post-polio syndrome includes many disabling symptoms, which can occur at an average of 35 years after the initial poliovirus infection. As of 2015, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan were the only places in the world had not completely eliminated polio.
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Whale watching is just one of many activities that can make travelers motion sick.

Motion sickness affects one in every three people. This means that chances are you or someone you know suffers from cold sweats, uneasiness, nausea, and vomiting whenever hitting the road or venturing out at sea. A recent study shows that it’s not just pure luck that determines whether you are going to sail on smoothly by, but rather that some people are genetically predisposed to motion sickness.

The first ever genome-wide study conducted on motion sickness estimates that up to 70 percent of variation in risk for motion sickness is due to genetics. The genetics company behind the study, 23andMe, has published numerous genome-wide association studies; however, this was the first of the company’s research to include association results across a broad set of phenotype, the observable physical characteristics of a person or other species.

Prior research on motion sickness had suggested that the feelings of illness could be hereditary, and the new study confirms this with its finding that several genes may be linked to the nausea associated with movement in a car or on a boat.  In fact, 35 genetic factors can now be tied to motion sickness.
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Why do you travel?  Pleasure and business are common reasons to take a trip, but one, perhaps less familiar, type of travel has become increasingly popular.  Mission trips and other types of “PhilanthroTravel” are occurring with increasing frequency as people work to give back while they see the world.  Recently, Passport Health teamed up with Project CURE, the largest provider of donated medical supplies in the world, to deliver lifesaving supplies to a hospital in Panama.

In the videos below, you’ll see interviews and highlights of this trip to Panama that Passport Health was fortunate enough to help with.  During this mission to the Central American country, volunteers delivered a cargo container of medical supplies to a hospital in need to help the local people.

Remember, a key part of any travel to any region is keeping yourself safe and healthy before, during and after your trip.  Let Passport Health be a part of your journey; schedule an appointment at a Passport Health travel clinic before leaving on your trip so that we can help you stay healthy with proper vaccination, medications and health advice.  Taking care of your health is important so that you are best able to help others!

Just one question remains:  What will your journey be?

Ebola and other tropical diseases pose a major threat to populations worldwide, especially when it comes to diagnosing the infection.  Current diagnostic tools can take days to identify whether someone has an infection, but a new test created by a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers could change that.

The device consists largely of a paper strip, and it can identify Ebola fevers within minutes.  Unlike other tests, like those that can identify only a single condition like pregnancy or strep, this one is capable of diagnosing more than just the virulent West African disease.  Research published in an MIT study shows that it is capable of also identifying yellow fever, dengue fever and other viral hemorrhagic diseases.

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