Who are you and what is your field of work or research?

My name is Dunja Nicca and I am a nurse practitioner and nurse scientist. My clinical focus is the development of new services in travel medicine. I also lead a research group with a similar focus. There, the main focus is on the scientifically guided development of new services and interventions to promote health or to promote collaboration, which then ultimately benefits the health of the patient.

The sexual health of the population here in Switzerland does not end at the border. What can you tell us about sexual health while traveling?

Yes, that's right, sexual health is also important when traveling! What we saw in interviews was that sexuality is often lived differently when traveling and, therefore, the common patterns for preventive behavior regarding sexually transmitted diseases do not work the same anymore. Therefore, it is very important when traveling. In addition, sexually transmitted diseases naturally vary in prevalence depending on the country. The risk of infection can be higher or lower. What's more, sexual assaults or even sexual violence are different in a different environment than at home.

At the Center for Travel Medicine, work is underway on a clinic development project called "Travel PrEPared." What is it about?

This project is about integrating sexual health counseling into travel medicine counseling. In surveys, we found out that it is not so easy to talk about sexuality - for professionals on the one hand, but also for travelers on the other. But it would be important to talk about risks and different ways of behaving or options for protection. That's what we want to achieve with this project. Another important part is that new prevention approaches, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV, are not yet integrated in such consultations. 

Why is this topic important to you?

This topic is important to me because I think that sexuality is an important part of people's lives and is also lived when they travel. And because it is a topic that is important in private life as well as in public, but still little is said about it. It leads to the fact that people do not prepare themselves well enough and don't think about it. It is important to me to change this and to find approaches, for example, to be able to talk about the topic as appropriately as possible during a travel consultation.

Are there any other past, ongoing or upcoming projects that you would like to draw attention to?

Internationally, new approaches for prevention regarding sexually transmitted diseases, but also simply the integration of sexual health in travel medicine are still very little developed. This research-supported practical project, in which we are currently in the middle of, is certainly a project with pioneering character.

You have more question about this project? Find more information here.

*This post is a free transcription. The original post will be published as a video post/reel on our Instagram profile on June 21st, 2023.