Medical

Travel insurance

BUPA is recommended. They are not the cheapest but they are more likely to be helpful in the case of something happening than other cheaper companies. Which insurance you buy is up to you, but make sure it covers medical expenses and make sure it mentions orienteering specifically in the list of sports it covers.

Vaccinations

It is advised is to book an appointment with a nurse who will be able to recommend which vaccinations you should have. You should get on with this as soon as possible as some need to be done a number of weeks before travelling. The NHS website gives information here. Places such as Superdrug travel clinics can also be very helpful and quicker than the NHS.

Here is information relevant to the specific area we’ll be going, but this should not be taken as medical advice.

Vaccine	Details	Has Ben had it?
Cholera	Very unlikely for travellers	No
Hepatitis A and B	These two are recommended	Yes
Japanese Encephalitis	We will not be spending a large amount of time in a very rural environment and the time that we are there won’t be in rice paddies	No
Polio	You should have this anyway from the UK	Yes
Rabies	We won’t be spending much time in places where you could be at risk, but the risk is not zero	No
Tetanus	You should have this anyway from the UK but may need a booster if it was over 10 years ago	Yes
Tick-borne encephalitis	TBE exists in Scandinavia and mainland Europe anyway, ticks are a possibility in the forest but nobody got any last year. Small but non-zero risk.	No
Typhoid	Unlikely but up to you if you take it	Yes
Malaria	Not required, we will not be travelling anywhere with a malaria risk	N/A
Dengue fever	No vaccine, but also no risk in the areas where we will be	N/A