Vaccination knowledge, attitude and practice among Chinese travelers who visit travel clinics in Preparation for international travel.

BACKGROUND: Although international travel has become increasingly more common in main land China, few data are available on vaccination knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) among Chinese travelers.

METHOD: In each of 14 International Travel Healthcare Centers (ITHCs) situated in mainland China 200 volunteers were recruited for a cross-sectional investigation by questionnaire on KAP related to travel vaccinations. For the evaluation the study subjects were grouped by demographic data, past travel experience, travel destination, duration of stay abroad, purpose of travel.

RESULTS: Among the 2,800 Chinese travelers who participated in the study, 67.1% were aware of national and travel vaccination recommendations. The knowledge about vaccine preventable diseases was low. The most common sources (73.4%) of information were requirements by destination countries obtained in connection with the visa application, Chinese companies employing workers/laborers for assignments overseas, and foreign schools. The overall acceptance rate of recommended vaccines was 68.7%, but yellow fever was accepted by 99.8% of the participants when recommended. Among 81.1% respondents who recalled to have received vaccinations in the past, only 25.9% of them brought the old vaccination records with them to their ITHC consultations.

CONCLUSION: The results indicate that increased awareness of the importance of pre-travel vaccination is needed among the travellers in order to improve their KAP.