Medical

Staying healthy on the trip is a key priority for us, so we’ve not taken the medical prep lightly.

We both attended a Remote Area First Aid training course in February. Over 2 weekends,  we were put through our paces learning everything from basic to advanced first aid. Once the principles were mastered, we then had to learn how to apply these in the field improvising with what’s available. We hope we never have to use these skills, but glad that we now have the knowledge to deal with medical situations if the arise.

Having a GP in the family means we are well equipped with antibiotics, penicillin, creams, ointments, painkillers -so we will be taking a healthy size first aid kit(S). The most important drug, will be Anti-Malarials. We’ve researched the different options and have chosen to take Doxycycline – it’s 1 a day for the duration we’re in Malarial countries and continued for 2 weeks after. We also have a Malarone treatment if we do happen to get Malaria. We know there’ll be some side effects to watch out for, such as sun-sensitive skin, but we’d prefer to suffer these than to risk actually getting Malaria.

We also had to get all of our jabs up to date – 10 in total!! After 3 trips to the medical centre and a bill for $1,000 each, it was an expensive and not very pleasant part of the preparations – but a necessity. Yellow Fever is essential, as most border crossings will request your Yellow Fever certificate before allowing you through. Hopefully this all makes for a relatively healthy trip!

Hepatitis A & B = Twinrix x 3

Rabies = Merieux x 3

Yellow Fever = Stamaril x1

Diphtheria and Tetanus = Boostrix x 1

Typhoid = Typherix x 1

Meningococcal C = Mencevax x 1

Cholera = Dukoral 2 pack x 1 @ $120