Background Consultation about travel abroad addresses preventive attitudes before, during and after the trip, which may include immunisations, the prescription of prophylactic medicines and advice on food safety. Advice to travellers is determined by the destination and characteristics of the trip, as well as by the profile and health status of the person who wishes to travel abroad. At the initial consultation about travel abroad recommendations may be made and a travel medicine kit may be prescribed in accordance with the individual needs of the traveller.

Purpose To design travel medicine kits including over-the-counter and ethical drugs prescribed during a consultation about travel abroad.

Materials and methods A literature review was performed by searching for scientific articles in the PubMed electronic database, intersecting the terms “travellers’ health” and “travelling internationally.” National and international tropical medicine official websites were also consulted.

Results Analysis of the collected data originated 21 different ethical kits according to destination and immunisation status of the traveller. All kits included leaflets with necessary recommendations/preventive measures, bandages, gauze, adhesive bandages, an antiseptic, an antidiarrhoeal, an analgesic and antipyretic, an antihistamine, a sunscreen with UVA and UVB protection as well as an insect repellent. In addition to those products which were common to all the kits, some ethical medicines and leaflets were specific to certain kits.

Conclusions The pre-manufactured ethical kits will facilitate better support for those people who travel abroad and will allow for standardisation of information to the user. We believe that this information will prove useful, helping to provide quick and effective solutions to health issues related to travel abroad.

No conflict of interest.