Travelers’ Health

Who We Are

The mission of the Travelers’ Health Branch of CDC’s Division of Global Migration Health is to reduce illness and injury in US residents traveling internationally or living abroad. Applying the best science, we provide alerts, recommendations, education, and technical support to travelers and the healthcare providers who serve them.

What We Do

The CDC Travelers’ Health Branch provides international travel health advice, including vaccine recommendations and requirements, behavioral precautions, and advice for specific worldwide events. We play an integral role in many of CDC’s global emergency response efforts, such as the H1N1 influenza pandemic and the MERS, Ebola, and Zika outbreaks. Our focus areas converge on:

• investigating the wide-ranging health threats posed by mass gatherings abroad;
• teaming up with other CDC programs and external partners to advance groundbreaking science related to infectious and noninfectious threats to the health of travelers;
• understanding and advising international travelers with specific needs; and
• applying best practices in health communication science and new information technologies.

Where We Work

Our complete portfolio of travel notices, recommendations, traveler tools, and clinical guidance is available online at www.cdc.gov/travel. This online portal, consistently ranks as one of the most visited CDC websites.

Our travel health messages and materials can also be found at airports and seaports across the country and in embassies around the world.

How We Work Together

We maintain formal partnerships with the World Health Organization, foreign ministries of health, US federal agencies (including the Department of State), Global TravEpiNet (a national network of travel clinics across the United States) and GeoSentinel (global disease surveillance network of over 200 members and 60 clinical sites on six continents).

Program in Action

Surveillance and Epidemiology: Through our collaboration with the GeoSentinel Network Global TravEpiNet, and other partners, we ensure our travel alerts are based on most current science available.

Yellow Book and Provider Education: We publish CDC Health Information for International Travel (commonly called the Yellow Book) every two years. The Yellow Book is a reference for health professionals who provide care for international travelers about health guidelines such as pretravel vaccine recommendations and destination-specific health advice.

Travel Health Alerts and Stakeholder Communications: We constantly seek innovative ways to communicate with our audiences, like designing interactive maps, text alerts, mobile applications, and digital media campaigns. By customizing, promoting, and evaluating audience-centric content we inform and empower international travelers as well as the partners and healthcare providers who serve them.