Mandatory contents for your travel first aid kit

Illness is the last thing you want when you’re on vacation. But it’s easy to pick up minor wounds such as a cut caused by a seashell on the beach or a graze you get when climbing. It’s better not to have to look for a pharmacy in a place you don’t know – assuming there is one.

Put together your travel first aid kit in good time. Remember first of all to take a sufficient amount of your personal medicaments – they may be hard to get hold of abroad. The basic components of a travel first aid kit are the same as for a home first aid kit – but they may have to be adapted to your destination:

Tweezers
Disinfectant
Dressings:
- Gauze compresses
- Bandage scissors
- Plasters and bandages
- Elastic roll plaster for securing
- Triangular bandage
A breakable thermometer made of glass is unsuitable
In regions where yellow fever and dengue fever occur, blood-thinning painkillers are unsuitable – acetaminophen is better.
Medicine to treat travel sickness
Medicine to treat diarrhea, such as loperamide
Sun cream
Insect repellent – especially important in risk areas. The active ingredient DEET is recommended.
Malaria tablets
In remote areas you may need syringes, cannulas, and infusion sets