Shots To Get Before Traveling To Africa

It is important to contact health authorities or travel clinics in one's area to find out which vaccinations and immunizations one needs before travel to Africa. The authorities will indicate where the shots can be administered along with which shots are needed. As well, it is important to plan the schedule for the shots since in some cases more than one set of shots is necessary.

For most African countries, visitors need to be up-to-date with vaccines for the common childhood diseases. This includes hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, mumps, rubella and polio. If one is traveling with children, one should check to see if boosters are needed for any of the shots which the child has already had.

Further vaccinations which are highly recommended for travel to every African country are hepatitis A, meningococcal meningitis, rabies and typhoid. Some countries will not permit you to travel in that specific country unless the traveler has been vaccinated. This includes yellow fever and cholera. It should be noted that many countries no longer require cholera as an entry requirement. Some doctors actually feel that the cholera vaccine is useless.

It is important also to know the timetable of when one will be in a certain country and then to adjust the vaccination timetable according to the specific destination. Malaria is one of the diseases that needs special consideration. There is no vaccine for malaria as such, so if one is traveling anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa, one should probably take anti-malaria prophylactics.