Development And Application Of An Integrated Travel Health Surveillance And Information System At Destinations (TravHeSID)

This is a collaborative research with several research in Udayana University

The number of international travelers to Bali has increased significantly. This increasing trend has been accompanied by the rise in travel related morbidity and mortality.

Travelers are considered an important population from epidemiology point of view due to their mobility, and risks of importing and exporting diseases. Currently available travel health surveillance system relies on ill-returned travelers data and has been mainly designed for country of origin at developed nations.

This study aims at developing an integrated travel health surveillance and information system for destination areas in Bali. The study will be conducted in 3 phases, each phase is expected to finish in 1 year.

The first phase will include

•       mapping and geotagging of health hazards and risks at tourism areas in Bali,

•       development of items for providing area-specific travel health information, and

•       mapping and geotagging of facilities that provide travel health services in Bali

The second phase will include

•       assessment of feasibility and acceptability of using mobile application-based surveillance system by travelers and health facilities, and

•       development of a mobile application that enables travelers to access area-specific travel health information at tourism areas, health facilities nearby, and report symptoms or illness through the system. These data will automatically be collected into a database.

In the third phase, an implementation research will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the newly developed system by comparing areas which are included in the systems and areas which are not.

This project will be able to generate a comprehensive database of health hazards, risks, and medical facilities at tourism areas in Bali.  Secondly, a mobile application will be developed, and implementation of this system is expected to foster a travel health network in Bali involving private and public travel medicine centers, as well as district and provincial health offices.