CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS FOR DISEASE PREVENTION IN MARITIME HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS

Abstract

Due to the diverse infectious disease hazards faced by cruise travelers, there are established guidelines for Preventing, Mitigating, and Managing (PMM) such diseases.Novel infections and crises require revised, contextually relevant recommendations and protocols.Recent evidence on PMM infection must be converted into directives for government agencies and the tourist shipping sector.Within the framework of the European healthy sailing task, the research performed a scoping examination of materials in PubMed, Scopus, and grey research to identify scientific papers, rules, instructions, and laws about infectious illnesses PMM in maritime ports, as well as on cruise, boat, mission, and river cruise vessels from 2000 to 2025.Out of 650 papers, the majority were peer-reviewed articles (58%) and technical advice (29%), next to reports/other documents (10%), business advice (4%), and regulations (2%).Fifty percent (51%) of all articles focused on respiratory ailments, while fewer tackled diarrhea (12%), Legionnaire's illness (7%), other vaccine-preventable illnesses (4%), mosquito-borne illnesses (2%), and sexually transmitted illnesses (2%). Most papers concentrate on infectious diseases in seagoing cruises (76%), in contrast to ferries, exploration vessels, and river cruise vessels (27%, 17%, and 18%).A limited number of publications focused on seaports (38%), shore-side employees (20%), and port towns (3%). Most literature was released between 2020 and 2025 (54%), with a notable surge in publications on respiratory conditions (270 articles).A trend in volume and type was noted about public health emergencies corresponding to the year of publication.Peer-reviewed publications and guidelines focus on pulmonary and gastrointestinal diseases, maritime cruise vessels, and their onboard inhabitants.There are deficiencies in several areas: various illness categories, different types of passenger vessels, terrestrial personnel, and port populations.