| Health and Safety |
While every effort is made to insure your safety, Purdue cannot guarantee the safety of participants or eliminate risk from the study abroad environs. Nor can Purdue prevent participants from engaging in illegal, dangerous, unwise activities, or monitor or control all the daily personal decisions, choices and activities of individual participants.
Participants can have a major impact on their own health and safety abroad through the decisions they make before and during the program and by their day-to-day choices and behaviors. Through the "American folk wisdom of travel" most everyone has heard to avoid the local water and to be prepared for upset stomachs. However many less common health and safety concerns can be considerably more dangerous and unexpected. It is necessary that you take proper precautions and become familiar with how to locate medical help while overseas. Please contunue reading this page for more information on health and safety precautions to take while abroad.
A description of medical benefits will be included in your orientation packet. The policy requires you to pay for medical services when they are rendered and then file a claim for reimbursement. Therefore, be sure to save all receipts from your physician and pharmacist overseas as well as all documentation you can get concerning diagnosis and treatment.
Also included in the program fee is the cost of an International Student Identity Card (ISIC), issued through Council for International Exchange. This card entitles the bearer to certain discounts while abroad and provides additional insurance coverage with a maximum of $3,000 per accident or injury if hospitalized, as well as medical evacuation coverage, repatriation insurance, etc. At orientation you will complete the ISIC application form and return it along with a photo for processing.
You may find that you want additional medical coverage. Our office recommends that you contact your own insurance carrier to see if your current coverage will be effective while you are abroad. Do not assume that this will automatically be the case.
Although immunizations are not required for most programs, every study abroad participant should discuss overseas travel immunization recommendations with their personal physician. We also recommend you have a dental, eye, and physical check-up before going abroad. If a physical exam and x-rays are required for your visa, this may be done at the Purdue Student Health Center for a fee or by your private healthcare provider. Inoculations and prescriptions are also available through the Purdue Student Health Center.
You will be given a medical information form, which must be completed prior to departure and submitted to the IPIA office; any chronic conditions must be noted on this form. If you have a chronic illness or allergies (especially to medications), be certain to take copies of your medical records with you.
Bring with you any necessary medications and keep them in their original, labeled containers in your hand luggage. Because of strict laws on narcotics in most countries, it is advised that you carry a letter from your physician explaining your need for any prescription drugs in your possession. It is also advisable to carry a readable (preferably typewritten) copy of the prescription. Likewise, if you take over-the-counter medications with you, be sure to keep them in their original containers with the contents clearly marked. High import duties are often charged on any prescription drug or pharmacy item mailed into most countries, so do not plan to have medicines shipped to you.
If you wear glasses or contact lenses, take the lens prescription with you as well as an extra pair of glasses or lenses. Depending on the country in which you will be studying, contact lens solutions may not always be available so you should take a good supply with you. Also, electric lens cleaners are notorious for working improperly even with an adapter, so plan either to buy one overseas or do without.
While the drinking age may be lower, the laws more lenient, or the cost cheaper in your host country than in the States it is important to remember the risks involved. Even in countries where social drinking is the norm on a daily basis, it is never safe or acceptable to "binge" drink. Remember your defenses are down when you have been drinking.
The use of illegal drugs while participating in an Agriculture Study Abroad program is completely forbidden and could result in a student's removal from the program.
Sexual Harassment can be defined as any unwanted sexual advances from anyone with power over any aspect of your stay overseas, including your living arrangements and your educational or work environment. Sometimes it is difficult to evaluate whether or not you are being harassed or if it is a matter of cultural differences. For example, Americans sometimes react with discomfort to the normal conversational distance between people in a culture they are exploring, and you should be aware of your own feelings within that context. However, no one, male or female, studying abroad should have to suffer from unwelcome sexual pressure.
Should you be the object of unwanted sexual advances, say no firmly. Should it persist, inform the appropriate officials and contact this office. If it involves a homestay, request a change of families. Even if you think that you have handled a homestay problem adequately on your own, please tell us about it.
We to not want to suggest that sexual harassment is the norm in homestay arrangements, for it is not. You should not interpret every offer of shared activity in the negative, but rather accept most invitations as a show of hospitality and an effort to acquaint you with a new culture.
However, if you find that you are the target of what are clearly repeated sexual advances, then you should go to the appropriate person to report it.
Please click Purdue Policy on Security to read the official Purdue Policy on Security Abroad.