Travel health consultation
A risk assessment built around your destination, your trip and your health — not a generic vaccine list pulled off the internet.
A travel health consultation (consulta do viajante) is a pre-travel appointment where a doctor assesses the risk attached to your destination and the kind of trip you are taking, and sets out the preventive measures to take before, during and after. In Portugal it is provided through the SNS by the International Vaccination Centres (CVI) and public health units, and privately as well. Part of it — risk assessment, reviewing your vaccination record, malaria prophylaxis, medicines to carry, managing chronic illness while travelling — can be done by video. Administering vaccines and issuing the international certificate of vaccination cannot: those are in-person acts, and the yellow fever vaccine in particular is given only at an International Vaccination Centre.
Starting point
What a travel consultation actually is
It is not a consultation about vaccines. It is a consultation about your trip, in which vaccines are only one of the possible outputs.
SNS 24 describes it as the consultation in which the traveller is informed about the preventive (or curative) measures to adopt before, during and after the journey, according to the destination. The important part is the last clause: according to the destination. The same person, travelling to Amsterdam or to rural Mozambique, leaves with recommendations that look nothing like each other.
What changes the assessment is not only the country. It is the region within it, the season, the type of accommodation, the length of stay, whether you are going rural or urban, whether you are visiting relatives, whether you are taking children, whether you are pregnant, whether you have a chronic illness or are immunosuppressed, and whether you plan any high-risk activity. Two people holding the same plane ticket can have very different assessments.
- Destination and itinerary — country, region, rural or urban, altitude.
- Season — rainy season, transmission periods, active outbreaks.
- Type of trip — tourism, work, backpacking, visiting family, humanitarian mission.
- Your health — pregnancy, age, chronic illness, immunosuppression, regular medication.
- Vaccination history — what you already have, what has lapsed, what is missing.
Official description: SNS 24 — consulta do viajante. For complex itineraries or higher-risk destinations the IHMT is Portugal's reference centre for tropical medicine, and the fullest country-by-country guidance in English is on TravelHealthPro.
Locations
Where it is done and what to bring
There are three possible routes, and they are not interchangeable for everything.
Within the SNS, travel consultations and international vaccination are carried out at International Vaccination Centres and at the public health units of the local health authorities, by prior appointment. Each region publishes its own locations and opening hours. Privately, the consultation is offered by hospitals and clinics, and by telemedicine services. These are different circuits with different competences — the next section sets out exactly where the line falls.
- International Vaccination Centre — the consultation and, above all, international vaccination and the certificate.
- Public health unit / health centre — advice and vaccination that is not CVI-exclusive, depending on the region.
- Private consultation, in person or by video — risk assessment, prescription and preparation; vaccination still requires attending in person.
SNS 24 lists the documents to bring: identification, a document showing your número de utente and your vaccination record. Two more are worth adding: the list of your regular medication, and the itinerary with dates. Without the itinerary the consultation loses half its value, because the risk assessment depends on exactly that.
Locations and hours by region: ARS Norte — CVI · ARS Algarve — traveller health · SNS — healthcare abroad.
Prevention
Vaccines, yellow fever and the international certificate
One distinction settles most of the confusion: vaccines that are recommended, vaccines that are required, and vaccines only a CVI can give.
Recommended vaccines protect against risks present at the destination. Required vaccines are those a country imposes as a condition of entry, proven by the international certificate of vaccination. Yellow fever is the best-known case of both at once: health authorities determine that it is administered at International Vaccination Centres, and that is where the certificate is issued.
- Reviewing the national vaccination schedule is part of the consultation: many trips reveal only that routine vaccines are overdue.
- Some travel vaccines require more than one dose, with an interval between them.
- Entry requirements change and are set by each country — confirm with the destination's authority and the WHO, not in an article.
- The international certificate of vaccination is an official document issued at the moment of vaccination in a CVI. Nobody issues it remotely.
Vaccination does not replace the non-vaccine measures, which matter more at a good number of destinations: protection against mosquito bites, care with water and food, prevention of traveller's diarrhoea, safe sexual behaviour, sun exposure, and road safety — which is, in practice, one of the most common causes of serious harm while travelling.
On yellow fever vaccination at CVIs: ARS Algarve. Country requirements: WHO — travel advice.
Transparency
What a video consultation can — and cannot — do
We put this early and plainly, because almost no telemedicine service writes it down.
A video consultation does not administer vaccines and does not issue the international certificate of vaccination. If your trip requires yellow fever, you will have to attend an International Vaccination Centre, regardless of who performs the prior assessment. Any service suggesting otherwise is promising what it cannot deliver.
That said, the part of a travel consultation that is not an injection is considerable — and it is precisely the part people tend not to make time for:
- Risk assessment of your actual itinerary, with your clinical history in front of the doctor.
- Review of your vaccination record and identification of what is missing before you book the CVI — so you go once rather than twice.
- Malaria prophylaxis where indicated: choice of drug, regimen and effects to watch for.
- Medicines to carry: traveller's diarrhoea, nausea, pain, allergy, and what to do if you fall ill far from home.
- Chronic illness while travelling: adjusting timing across time zones, storing medication, quantities, and a medication letter for your luggage.
- After the trip: which symptoms require medical assessment on your return, and within what timeframe.
You can confirm any doctor's registration with the Ordem dos Médicos, with us as anywhere else.
After the trip
On your return: the symptoms not to ignore
A travel consultation does not end at the departure gate. An important part of the risk appears weeks after you arrive.
The most important signal is simple to remember: fever after travel to a malaria-risk area is a medical emergency, even if you took prophylaxis correctly and even if you feel reasonably well between fever spikes. Malaria can deteriorate quickly, and early treatment changes the outcome.
- Fever, chills or sweats after travel to a risk area — seek medical assessment and always say where you have been.
- Diarrhoea that persists, contains blood, or comes with high fever.
- Jaundice — yellowing of the skin or eyes.
- A rash appearing after your return.
- An animal bite or scratch during the trip — this one is assessed immediately, while still travelling if possible.
Always tell whoever sees you that you have travelled, where, and when. It is the information that changes the clinical reasoning, and the one most often left unsaid.
Practical
What to settle before you leave
A short sequence that avoids almost every avoidable problem.
- Book the consultation as soon as the trip is decided, not the night before.
- Gather your vaccination record, your regular medication list and the itinerary with dates.
- Check whether the destination requires an international certificate of vaccination and, if so, book the CVI early.
- Carry regular medication in your hand luggage, in its original packaging, with the prescription or a medical letter.
- Check your health cover at the destination, including repatriation, and carry emergency contacts.
- Keep the consulate or embassy contact details, know how to seek medical help in the country you are visiting, and sign up to the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs traveller registry, which lets the consulate reach you in an emergency.
None of this takes an afternoon. It only has to be done beforehand, rather than on the way to the airport — which is, in practice, when most people remember.
Global Health Portugal
Next steps
Our doctors in Portugal carry out the pre-travel assessment by video and tell you plainly what the consultation can settle and what requires attending an International Vaccination Centre.
Travelling and not sure where to start?
A video consultation reviews your vaccination record, assesses the risk of your itinerary, prescribes what is indicated and tells you exactly what still has to be dealt with in person.
Official sources
Where to confirm the rules
Locations and hours, entry requirements by country and recommended vaccines all change. Always confirm at the source, and as close to departure as possible.
Links open on the competent bodies' own websites. Global Health is not an International Vaccination Centre, does not administer vaccines and does not issue international certificates of vaccination.
FAQ
Common questions
What is a travel health consultation?
A pre-travel appointment in which a doctor assesses the risk of your destination and the type of trip you are taking and sets out the preventive measures to adopt before, during and after. It includes reviewing your vaccination record, indicating vaccines and prophylaxis where applicable, and the non-vaccine measures — water, food, bites, medicines to carry.
Where is the travel consultation done in Portugal?
Within the SNS at International Vaccination Centres and public health units, by prior appointment; each region publishes its own locations and hours, including Porto, Lisbon, Coimbra and Braga. It is also offered privately, in person or by video. International vaccination and the certificate, however, are acts of the International Vaccination Centres.
Can I have the travel consultation online?
Risk assessment, review of your vaccination record, malaria prophylaxis, medicines to carry and managing chronic illness while travelling can all be done by video. Administering vaccines and the international certificate of vaccination cannot: they require attending an International Vaccination Centre.
How far in advance should I book?
As soon as the trip is decided. Some vaccines need time to produce protection and some require more than one dose, and appointments at International Vaccination Centres can carry a waiting list. Check availability in your region rather than assuming a date.
What documents should I bring?
SNS 24 lists identification, a document showing your número de utente and your vaccination record. Bring your regular medication list and the itinerary with dates as well — without the itinerary a serious risk assessment is not possible.
Do I need the yellow fever vaccine and the certificate?
It depends on the destination and the itinerary, and entry requirements are set by each country. The yellow fever vaccine is administered at International Vaccination Centres, which issue the international certificate of vaccination at the time. Always confirm with the destination country's authority and the World Health Organization.