In a mini episode meant to complement our previous “travellers as sentinels for disease” show, ISTM podcast director Dr. Aisha Khatib interviews Prof. Patricia Schlagenhauf, the GeoSentinel Site Director in Zürich, the director of EuroTraveNet, as well as the Head of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Travellers' Health. As a professor at the University of Zürich, Prof. Schlagenhauf has led the development of the free ITIT app, an illness tracking platform meant for travellers available on both iOS and Android phones. The effort is meant to provide grass-roots, bottom-up support from travellers themselves to inform illness tracking efforts by public health authorities around the world. 

LINKS

• Learn about the ITIT app, and download it for your iOS or Android phone.
• To follow us on your favourite podcast platform, go to our show feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Please remember to rate the show!
• Prof. Schlagenhauf is a lead author of an academic paper about the ITIT app and illness tracking among travellers: Surveillance of global, travel-related illness using a novel app: a multivariable, cross-sectional study
• Travel Unravelled is sponsored by IAMAT, the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers.

KEY MOMENTS

00:09 Show introduction

00:15 Dr. Aisha Khatib introduces the podcast and the guest, Professor Schlagenhauf

00:57 Professor Schlagenhauf explains the purpose of the ITIT app

01:46 Dr. Aisha Khatib asks about the ITIT app, including where to find it and how to sign up

02:26 Professor Schlagenhauf discusses the ITIT app as a public health asset

02:34 Dr. Aisha Khatib highlights the ITIT app as a way for travellers to contribute to research and surveillance

02:53 Dr. Aisha Khatib emphasizes the app's benefits for travellers

02:59 Dr. Aisha Khatib asks what incentives travellers may have to use the ITIT app

03:48 Professor Schlagenhauf discusses the various features and incentives of the ITIT app

03:58 Dr. Aisha Khatib asks about the availability of the ITIT app for download

04:54 Professor Schlagenhauf highlights the "my ITIT health diary" feature of the app

05:21 Dr. Aisha Khatib asks Professor Schlagenhauf about her favourite area of interest in travel medicine

05:56 Professor Schlagenhauf discusses her interest in malaria and travellers

06:11 Professor Schlagenhauf mentions the potential for data collection and analysis using the ITIT app

06:41 Dr. Aisha Khatib encourages listeners to download and use the ITIT app

Travel Unravelled is produced by Ghost Bureau.