SoutheaSt aSian J trop Med public health 1546 Vol 42 No. 6 November 2011 Correspondence: Abdulbari Bener, Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Hamad General Hospital and Hamad Medical Corpora- tion, Weill Cornell Medical College Qatar, PO Box 3050, Doha, Qatar. Tel: +974 439 3765/6; Fax: +974 439 3769 E-mail: abener@hmc.org.qa, abb2007@qatar- med.cornell.edu INTRODUCTION Travel medicine is a constantly chang- ing specialty. Travel-associated health risks need to be balanced against the positive opportunities associated with interregional travel (Behrens et al, 2010). The primary goal of travel health is to protect travelers from accidents, disease and death. Travel related diseases are important for public health. International travel has dramatically increased dur- ing recent years. Each year, 50 million travelers residing in developed countries visit developing countries where the hygienic and epidemiological conditions are fundamentally different from their home country; this number is rapidly KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF TRAVEL MEDICINE AMONG PRIMARY HEALTH CARE PHYSICIANS IN QATAR Mohammed Al-Hajri 1,2 , Abdulbari Bener 3,4,5 , Omar Balbaid 6 and Ezaeldin Eljack 2 1 Department of Family, 2 Department of Community Medicine, Medical Education, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha; 3 Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, 4 Weill Cornell Medical College Qatar, Medical Education, Doha, Qatar; 5 Department of Evidence for Population Health Unit, School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK; 6 Joint Program of Family and Community Medicine, Ministry of Health, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Abstract. This prospective descriptive survey was conducted among primary health care (PHC) physicians in Qatar from January to May 2007 in order to determine whether travelers obtained correct travel health information. Of 130 physicians approached, 98 agreed to participate in the study and 76 attended the symposium and complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire included socio- demographic characteristics, knowledge and practices about travel medicine before and after the symposium. Forty-four point seven percent of the subjects provided health advice to travelers. Female physicians (59.2%) outnumbered male physicians (40.8%). Qatari physicians (60.5%) outnumbered non-Qataris (39.5%). Most physicians spent at least 15 minutes with each traveler (44.1%). The symposium increased the knowledge of physicians about travel medicine. A signifcant increase in knowledge was seen in the post-symposium questionnaire for most questions. The main source of knowledge for most physicians was the internet (78.9%). Nearly half the subjects provided pre-travel health advice. All the subjects had improved knowledge of travel medicine following the symposium. Keywords: travel medicine, knowledge, practice, PHC physicians, Qatar