Medical advice and recommendations

We provide up-to-date and reliable information on medical issues. To do this we conduct research, set standards for training and provide forums where the experts can meet and discuss which recommendations to give you. Click here for a list of our online recommendation papers. 

Medical FAQ

If you have any questions about mountain medicine, why not check out our new  Frequently Asked Questions sections. 

For questions about medical issues at high altitudes and on expeditions, check the Mountaineering FAQs, and for questions about climbing at sea level, sports climbing and bouldering, check the Sports climbing FAQs.

Medicine use

A controversial subject we are discussing in the UIAA is the use of non performance enhancing drugs in the mountains. One of the Medical Commission working groups is trying to achieve a consensus on ethical and medical issues related to the use of drugs such as asthma medicine, acetazolamide, nifedipine, sildenafil and corticosteroids, which is primarily used for prevention or treatment of altitude sickness. Learn More

Mountain medicine

Together with our partners MedCom ICAR and ISMM, the Medical Commission has established and developed a joint Diploma in Mountain Medicine. The courses are divided into three sections: basic course, course for trekking/expeditions and a specialty course for Mountain Emergency Medicine. The specialty course is designed for the training of emergency physicians and paramedics working in mountain rescue organisations. If your organisation or institution organises a mountain medicine course, and follows our minimum curricula, you can apply to our Approval Board for the right to use the ISMM/UIAA/ICAR logos and award our Diploma.

More than 3,500 doctors have been trained in these courses up to now. There are 13 different courses for mountain medicine established in Austria, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. So far the following six institutions have been approved: 

• Austrian Society for mountain and high altitude medicine together with German society for mountain and expedition medicine
• The University of Zaragoza, Spain
• Catalonian Society for Mountain and High Altitude medicine, Spain
• Nordbadischer Sportärztebund together with the UniversitätsKlinikum Heidelberg, Germany
• Swiss Society for mountain medicine in co-operation with the Swiss Alpine Club
• Diplôme Interuniversitaire de Médecine et Urgence en Montagne, Universities of Bobigny and Toulouse, France
• Medex and the University of Leicester

If you are a doctor who would like to take part in a mountain medicine course approved by the UIAA, please contact one of these institutions for details.