Summary:
It can be fun to get away on a trip, but the disruption to your daily routine may pose some potential health challenges. If you have HIV or are at risk for HIV, it’s important to plan ahead to make sure you stay on track with taking your medications as prescribed and take other steps to reduce your risk for HIV while traveling. Read our latest blog post to learn more and get other healthy travel tips.
Take some simple steps for a healthier trip
Got a trip coming up? Whether you’re traveling down the road, across the country, or abroad, make sure you prepare ahead of time to have the healthiest trip possible. Read on for tips about how best to stay healthy while traveling if you have or are at risk for HIV.
You’ll want to make sure you have the essentials for your HIV care when you’re away from home. In addition, traveling often involves time spent in crowded airports, train stations, bus stations, or travel stops on the side of the highway, where you may be exposed to more germs. Taking some easy steps can help keep you healthy when you’re around crowds during travel, especially right now during cold and flu season.
- Plan ahead to stay on schedule with medications. If you’re taking daily oral antiretroviral therapy (ART) or PrEP to treat or prevent HIV, and any other medications, talk to your health care provider ahead of your trip to make sure you’ll have enough medicine to last you through your time away from home. If you’re on injectable PrEP, talk to your health care provider to make sure your next injection doesn’t fall during the time you’re traveling, and if it does, ask if you should reschedule it for a date before you travel. Taking PrEP and ART exactly as prescribed is crucial for these medicines to work effectively, so take the time to plan ahead to make sure you stay on schedule during your travel.
- Continue healthy HIV and STI prevention habits. When packing for your trip, make sure to include condoms, which are highly effective at preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, like chlamydia and gonorrhea. You may also want to pack Doxy PEP, a medicine that can help with STI prevention. Doxy PEP must be taken no more than 72 hours after sexual contact and helps reduce the risk of getting a bacterial sexually transmitted infection, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis, by about two-thirds for gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM). Doxy PEP is a prescription, so you can ask a health care provider to write you one in advance so you have it on hand if needed. Use our HIV Services Locator to find a health care provider near you who can prescribe Doxy PEP.
- Wash your hands frequently. During your trip, take some extra time to make sure you wash your hands frequently with soap, which helps prevent infections and reduces respiratory illnesses, like colds and flu. Handwashing may seem pretty simple, but there’s a right way to do it! Brush up on your handwashing knowledge with these tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Use hand sanitizer. Handwashing with soap and water should be your go-to, since it is more effective than hand sanitizer at removing certain types of germs, but hand sanitizer can be used if soap and water are not available. Make sure to use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol to avoid getting sick and spreading germs to others. Get more facts about hand sanitizer here.
Travel can bring a fun change from your regular routine, and with a little awareness and planning ahead, you can also avoid common health pitfalls. Take proactive steps to make your next trip a healthy and happy one!