Interhealth are our health advisors. We obtain all information on inoculations and health hazards from them, including the most up to date information on anti-malarial prophylactics.

We provide all our volunteers with a comprehensive useful guide to health overseas bought from Interhealth. This is given out on training courses, together with suggested lists of medicine and equipment needed for health purposes.

All overseas projects are assessed for risk by either staff members or our local Representatives. The current volunteers also check out hazards at their accommodation and workplace in preparation for the new group coming in. We provide guidelines about how to do this and what to do if there are problems or defects.

The Foreign & Commonwealth Office has a very comprehensive section on personal security and the latest update on country-specific hazards. We use their risk assessment to judge the suitability for countries to which we can send volunteers. We also follow the guidelines for Know Before You Go, their ongoing travel safety campaign.

Hazards overseas are something parents must expect their sons or daughters to face. Some hazards will be the same as in the UK and others are specific to the country. We try our best to ensure that our volunteers understand what these are and give advice on how to overcome them, but the volunteers cannot totally rely on us: they must use their commonsense and initiative to help them to spend their year overseas as safely as possible.