The National Travel Health Network and Centre, NaTHNaC, has been created to promote clinical standards in travel medicine with the goal of 'protecting the health of British travellers'.

They will do this by improving the quality of travel health advice available to GP practices and other health care providers. Travellers are advised to seek health advice early when planning to travel. For those with pre-existing medical conditions, the suitabilty of the itinerary should be scrutinised.

NaTHNaC will not be able to answer queries from the public, however there are several advice lines available that can do this:

• Hospital for Tropical Diseases - 020 7950 7799
• Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine - 0906 701 0095 (Calls cost 50p per minute; calls from mobiles and some networks may be higher)

There are also many online web resources that provide health information and advice for travellers. Some of these can be visited by going to the links page, however it is always best to consult your GP or local travel health clinic to obtain individual advice.

NaTHNaC has been funded by the Department of Health, England, and is in partnership with the network founders:

• Hospital for Tropical Diseases
• Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM)
• London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
• Health Protection Agency, Centre for Infections (CfI).

The Centre is based at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Mortimer Market Centre, London with staff at the HTD Centre, the LSTM and the Health Protection Agency CfI.

NaTHNaC's goals:

• To develop consistent and authoritative national guidance on general health matters for health professionals advising the public travelling abroad, and to disseminate this information widely
• To provide guidance on special situations relating to the health of travellers
• To carry out surveillance of infectious and non-infectious hazards abroad, producing accessible regular outputs of such surveillance
• To administer the yellow fever vaccination centres
• To collaborate with health professionals in travel medicine
• To engage the travel industry, insurance industry, and relevant government bodies, to assist in sentinel surveillance and to engage in constructive dialogue towards a unified prevention approach
• To facilitate, in collaboration with other training providers, the training of health care and other personnel in the provision of best quality travel health advice, based on such evidence as is available
• To define short-term and long-term research priorities relating to travel medicine

NaTHNaC will provide:

Guidance and education:

• Telephone advice to travel health professionals
  (currently 9am - 12noon, 2 pm - 4.30 pm Mon-Fri) 0845 602 6712
• Evidence-based documents on travel health matters
• Recommendations to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on the use of vaccines in travellers
• NaTHNaC travel health training days

Surveillance (carried out in the Travel and Migrant Health Section of the Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections ):

• Surveillance on infectious and non-infectious travel-related risks
• Outputs of surveillance information

Yellow Fever Vaccination Centre Administration:

• Information and requirements about becoming a yellow fever vaccination designated centre
• Standards and training in the running of a designated centre
• Training days for newly designated Yellow Fever Vaccination Centres

NaTHNaC Staff

(all staff are based in London, unless otherwise indicated)

Director
Prof. David Hill

Business and Administration

John Mathewson, Business Manager

Stella Bailey, Service and YFVC Designation Manager

Clinical Team

Consultant Epidemiologist: Dr Jane Jones (Health Protection Agency CfI)

Clinical Advisor: Dr Lisa Ford (Liverpool)
Travel Health Physician: Dr Vanessa Field

Nurse Advisor: Alexandra Jordan

Nurse Advisor: Mary Gawthrop
Senior Nurse Advisor: Hilary Simons (Liverpool)

Nurse Advisor: Claire Wong (Liverpool)

Nurse Advisor: Rosemary Tucker (Liverpool)

Information Team
Scientist: Joanne Lawrence (Health Protection Agency, CfI)

Information Officer: Naomi Bryant