Welcome

Dear Friends and Colleagues

 

It is with great pleasure to announce that the Asia Pacific Travel Health Society will hold its 2024 conference in Kathmandu 18th to 21st September. Many of you will recall the wonderful conference we held there in 2016. We will once again be at the Yak and Yeti Hotel and Conference Centre and I welcome you all back there.

 

The last few years have been difficult ones for the society and its members. The last-minute cancellation of our conference in early 2020 in Auckland due to the evolving Covid-19 pandemic was a huge disappointment for all of us. Since then, we have maintained membership engagement via webinars and now we welcome you back to an exciting in-person conference in beautiful Nepal.

 

The theme for this our 14th conference is “Refreshed Perspectives: Re-evaluating risk and benefit in Travel Medicine.” The pandemic has changed travel medicine in many ways; including how we evaluate risk and how it has impacted on travel-related risks. The current and future impact of global warming and climate change on travellers cannot be ignored. The threat of global recession will also impact on travellers and local communities dependent on tourism.

 

But the pandemic also reminded us how important travel is. The benefits of travel are many; maintaining family and cultural connections, the importance of holidays and leisure, raising cultural awareness and an appreciation of others, travelling for work and migration to name a few.  At this conference we wish to celebrate all the good that travel brings and there is no better place than Nepal to do so.

 

The rich scientific program will cover many topics, especially those relevant to our region. This will be supplemented with pre-conference workshops and seminars, covering topics of travel to high altitude, wilderness and expedition medicine.

 

There will also be many excellent opportunities for pre or post conference travel. So, lock in those dates and looking forward to seeing you all in Kathmandu, September 2024.

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