Challenges and Prospects of Travel Medicine Practice in Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Travel Medicine Practitioners

Background: Travel medicine is a relatively new area of practice in Nigeria and most African countries. Even though a huge number of Nigerians engage regularly in both international and in-country travels, there is a dearth of travel medicine practitioners in the country who can serve this population. This study was conducted to help in the identification of some of the challenges and prospects of travel medicine practice in Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Data collection was done via electronically distributed questionnaires to travel medicine practitioners in Nigeria. There were 52 respondents but total of 33 respondents were accepted based on the inclusion criteria and analyzed. The analysis was done using IBM SPSS Statistics software, version 26.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results: The median age of respondents was 42.5 years, and 18 (54.5%) were males, 27 (81.8%) practiced Christianity, and 19 (57.6%) had their practice in Lagos. Thirty (90.9%) were doctors, and 23 (69.7%) of them had no travel health certification. Highlighted challenges of travel medicine clinical services include vaccine supply (16, 48.5%), vaccine procurement (13, 42.4%), and vaccine storage (16, 42.5%). Twenty-one (63.6%) respondents highlighted poor patronage as a challenge facing the practice of travel medicine, while 28 (84.9%) agreed that the newness of travel medicine is also a challenge, and 27 (81.8%) agreed that travel medicine has not yet been widely recognized as a useful clinical service. Twenty-four (72.7%) and 30 (90.9%) suggested that the use of information technology and the use of Electronic Management of Immunization Data (EMID) to monitor vaccination, respectively, would improve the prospects of travel health practices in Nigeria. Twenty-six (78.8%) believed that there is a positive outlook for travel medicine in the post-COVID era. Conclusion: This research highlights the necessity for targeted efforts towards addressing the issues faced by travel medicine practitioners in the country. The study identified the primary challenges to be the novelty of the specialty and the lack of recognition of its importance to travelers. As for potential solutions, it is suggested that extensive utilization of technology in various forms will enhance the practice of travel medicine in Nigeria.