title: Student travel health and the role of universities and health clinics in New Zealand to prevent imported infections: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tertiary students are at risk of acquiring infectious diseases during overseas travel as they visit low-income countries, have low perceptions of risk and are unlikely to access travel health advice. Some will visit friends and relatives abroad, a group identified as disproportionately affected by imported infections. There is no national student travel health policy in NZ. This study aimed to explore travel health training of university-based health providers; academics' practices and perceptions of travel health; reasons for travel and countries visited by NZ university students, their travel health uptake and factors affecting decision making about this.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study consisting of surveys sent in 2014 to university clinics, senior academics and students.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Surveys were completed by 251 respondents. Three of nine clinicians had only undertaken a short course in travel health. Competing resources and time constraints in health clinics were amongst the barriers to providing optimal services. Of the senior academics, only 14% were able to confirm their university collaborated with health clinics. Sixty seven percent of students were unaware that clinics provided travel health services and 19% had or intended to seek professional travel health advice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A national policy is warranted involving all stakeholders, utilizing innovative technologies to increase uptake of student travel health services.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Penny E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Neave
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Balakrishnan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nair
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, NSW, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Anita E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Heywood
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods*; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012572:School Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D057236:Travel Medicine; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: New Zealand; Travel health; survey; university