Healthcare abroad is better and cheaper than most first-time travellers expect in the cities on this site, and worse than they expect on trekking routes and small islands. The preparation is a travel-medicine consultation, the right vaccinations, insurance with evacuation, and knowing where the good hospitals are. This is general information; your doctor's advice governs.
Before you go
A travel-medicine consultation six to eight weeks before departure: routine boosters (tetanus, MMR), hepatitis A and B, typhoid for most of the trail, yellow fever where required or recommended (parts of South America and Africa; a certificate is demanded at some borders), rabies pre-exposure for long stays in Asia and Latin America (it buys time, not immunity), Japanese encephalitis for long rural stays in Asia, and a malaria conversation for Tanzania, parts of Indonesia and the Amazon.
The diseases that matter
Dengue is the regional constant of Southeast Asia, Latin America and the tropics: no vaccine for most travellers, repellent in the evenings, see a doctor for fever. Travellers' diarrhoea is near-universal in the first weeks; rehydration salts and patience, antibiotics only for severe cases. Rabies is present in street dogs and monkeys across Asia and parts of Latin America; a bite needs immediate treatment. Altitude sickness in Cusco, La Paz, Kathmandu's trails and Mexico City. Heat illness in the hot months. Malaria in Zanzibar and Tanzania, rural Laos and Cambodia, parts of Indonesia and the Amazon.
Finding a doctor
Every country page names the hospitals and clinics foreigners use: Bumrungrad and Bangkok Hospital, Chiang Mai Ram, Prince Court and Gleneagles in Kuala Lumpur, Family Medical Practice and FV in Vietnam, BIMC and Siloam in Bali, CIWEC in Kathmandu, ABC and Médica Sur in Mexico City, Pablo Tobón Uribe in Medellín, Anglo Americana in Lima, Hospital Alemán in Buenos Aires, CUF in Lisbon, Acıbadem in Istanbul, Netcare in Cape Town. Embassies publish lists; hostels know the nearest decent clinic.
Pharmacies
Well stocked and cheap across Asia and Latin America, often with a consulting doctor attached (Mexico's farmacias, Thailand's pharmacies). Carry the generic names of your medication; brands differ. Antibiotics are sold over the counter in many countries; use them as a doctor would.
Medications to carry
A full supply of prescriptions plus the prescription itself, rehydration salts, loperamide, painkillers, antihistamines, antiseptic, blister care, motion-sickness tablets for the Pai road and the Bolivian buses, a thermometer, and altitude medication if your doctor agrees.
Dental and medical tourism
Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Budapest (dental), Istanbul, Mexico City and Medellín are established destinations for dental work, check-ups and elective procedures at a fraction of Western prices; long-term travellers routinely schedule a check-up in one of them.
Insurance
Medical evacuation is the line that matters; direct billing avoids deposits; altitude, diving and motorcycling need explicit cover. See travel insurance for long trips.
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