Dr. Ben Burford
Returned Traveller com is a resource to improve your management of illnesses in returned travellers with a focus on tropical illnesses. Recognise and manage these better to benefit your patients and improve the efficiency of your pre-travel advice.
The blog is regularly updated and there is a course on dengue you can enrol in for those with an interest to manage tropical diseases better.
Hi, I am Ben Burford; my interest in tropical diseases started after my parents moved to Hyderabad, India in the late 1970s. After finishing a medical degree in Adelaide, I spent 8 months in 1991 travelling mainly overland across South-East Asia from Timor to Nepal and India.
In 1993 I completed a DTM&H at Mahidol University, Bangkok. Then followed work in remote northern Australia and several missions for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on the Kenyan/Somali border, PNG & Kosovo.
In between diverse shorter term contracts e.g. working in TB/Malaria on the Thai/Myanmar border; AusAID contract in public health Bougainville; I worked in both rural and urban general practice in Australia.
From 2000, I settled down slightly, and spent 12 years in Lao P.D.R. firstly as the Australian Embassy doctor; and then as the UN Physician from 2007-2009. Since 2012 I have been based in Thailand. I am also a reviewer for PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Life isn’t just about us, and since I have worked in lots of countries less fortunate than Australia, you might have the question about any good organisations to make any donations to.
One aid project I do like is this one https://shop.ata.org.au/gift-of-light from the The Alternative Technology Association (ATA) in Melbourne. Volunteers help to install solar lighting etc in remote East Timorese villages without electricity. We like donating a solar set for a house, and have donated a few, but there are many options. It is also tax deductible.
We also donate to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) https://www.msf.org.au/