Provision of health advice for UK medical students planning to travel overseas for their elective study period: questionnaire survey.

An external elective period is included in the curriculum of most medical schools in the United Kingdom. Of this year’s applicants for elective grants at one school, 97% planned to go abroad; 69% of applicants chose developing countries, the most popular destination being southern Africa. Attention has been drawn to the potential health risks facing elective students (J H Cossar et al, fifth international conference on travel medicine, 1995 (abstract 201)) and also to the risk of HIV infection for health workers in developing countries. We conducted a survey to determine how health advice for elective students who plan to travel abroad is provided.