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Travel Health support for 9000 mile bike ride to India

23 August 2010

Equipped with essential travel supplies, antimalarials and returner’s medical check-up Dan returns free of any nasty bugs!

Working together for a healthier, safer and greener world

Daniel Bent, ‘teacher turned adventurer’ from the leafy suburbs of Richmond, has recently returned from an epic 9000 mile bike journey from London to Chembakolli, Southern India.

Daniel became interested in the village of Chembakolli in India whilst teaching,
encouraging pupils to compare their lives to the lives of the villagers. Action Aid, who
produce some of the teaching material about Chembakolli visited the school in the UK where Daniel was teaching to see how the pupils were responding. Four months later, Daniel was on his way to teach at the village school in Chembakolli, raising funds for Action Aid along the way!

Part of his teaching programme in the UK was to educate his class on green transportation methods, and in the true spirit of ‘practice what you preach’, Daniel decided to arrive at Chembakolli by bicycle!

Like so many international relief workers and volunteers, if Daniel had fallen ill he would not have been able to carry out his incredible trip. So, before
Daniel set off last July, he came to InterHealth to get his pretrip vaccinations.

Over 200 not-for-profit organisations send their staff and volunteers to InterHealth for
medical and travel support to ensure they stay healthy before, during and after travel.
 

As an InterHealth TravelWell Plan subscriber, ActionAid were able to provide Dan with a free travel health consultation before his trip. InterHealth were so impressed by such an epic journey they decided to sponsor Dan and provide ongoing travel health support. InterHealth equipped Dan with his essential travel supplies, antimalarials and returner’s medical check-up to ensure that he had returned free of any nasty bugs!

InterHealth established another important partnership with ToughStuff, a social enterprise which supplies inexpensive solar powered product’s in the developing world.

ToughStuff’s set of products include a 1 Watt solar panel that provides sufficient energy for an LED lamp, mobile phone connectors, radio connectors and a battery pack. These basic energy needs are already making considerable impact on improving the lives of the poor.

As well as having health and environmental benefits and it’s hard to think of a better
spokesperson for ToughStuff than a man who is so passionate about green energy and keeping healthy.

Dan happily offered to share the solar powered lamps with the people of and a set of
products were sent out to Dan to distribute lamps to Adivasi community leaders. The
Adivasi people were keen to continue trialling the products into the Monsoon season, which they say will be the biggest test, and one which Daniel is confident they will easily pass.

Jonathan Bamber, International Sales Manager of Tough Stuff says;

“ToughStuff was delighted to provide some products for Daniel on his recent visit to the Adivasi community. We are particularly excited by the opportunity to partner with
InterHealth who supports many organisations and individuals working in the developing world. They see the day to day challenges of those living without energy and likely use kerosene lamps and have to walk long distances to charge their mobile phones. We hope they will buy some ToughStuff products from InterHealth for their own use but also introduce them and ToughStuff to communities overseas. We hope this will lead to new partnerships being developed overseas”.

Dan, like many of the locals Adivasi people, had experienced the nasty effects of kerosene lamps, widely used in the developing world. As well as causing headaches, kerosene lamps pose more serious threats, such as intoxication, burns, and lung problems; not to mention that they are terrible for the environment.

It is through partnerships with organisations such as InterHealth, and through contact with entrepreneurial individuals such as Daniel, that they will continue to grow and diversify their markets.

InterHealth is keen to support this, and with its unique client base of international
travellers involved in aid, missionary and development work, has connections to
organisations and individuals that are likely to show support for alternative energy
solutions.

You can purchase a selection of ToughStuff products from InterHealth’s online TravelShop or at their clinic in Waterloo. Click here to get powered up with Tough Stuff worldwide.

Further distribution of these products is a small step in making the world a better, fairer, and healthier place.

Read more about Daniel's trip.

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