'Travel and Diabetes: Crossing Borders Safely'

The CDE Academy is proud to invite you to register for our next Journal Club Webinar. Each session is real-time, online and CPD-accredited.

All our topics are carefully selected to be of interest to all members of the wider interdisciplinary diabetes team.

Diabetes Care Beyond Borders

As international travel continues to rebound in the post-COVID era, the intersection between global mobility and chronic disease management presents both a public health imperative and an everyday clinical challenge.

For people living with diabetes, travelling safely requires more than choosing a destination. Medication supplies, insulin storage, time-zone changes, vaccination requirements and access to healthcare must all be considered—often well before departure.

In this Journal Club, we will examine two important 2025 papers that challenge healthcare professionals to move beyond reactive advice and make travel preparedness an integral part of routine diabetes care.

Preparing the Modern Traveller

The first review, by Parida et al., positions travel medicine firmly within preventive care. The authors demonstrate how structured pre-travel consultations, destination-specific immunisations and digital health tools can protect both individual travellers and wider global health security.

The review also highlights important policy and access gaps, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where many travellers depart without formal guidance. Primary care and diabetes healthcare professionals are therefore uniquely positioned to incorporate travel risk assessment into routine chronic disease consultations.

How Diabetes Shapes the Journey

The second paper, by Lee et al., explores how adults living with diabetes navigate international travel. Their findings reveal a striking gap between preparation and professional guidance: while more than 70% of travellers carry medication for acute health needs, barely 10% discuss their travel plans proactively with a primary care physician.

The study further demonstrates how insulin therapy can influence travel behaviour. Concerns about time-zone transitions, insulin storage and maintaining an adequate supply may lead insulin-treated travellers to choose shorter journeys and destinations closer to home.

Together, these papers reinforce the value of a proactive, multidisciplinary approach that equips people living with diabetes to anticipate risks, prepare appropriately and travel with greater confidence.

This session is not simply about managing diabetes while travelling—it is about transforming routine clinical encounters into opportunities for preparation, empowerment and safe travel without compromising metabolic stability.