What is the most effective advice to avoid/minimise risk of illness when travelling in Africa?

Mark gave a pretty comprehensive answer, but I’ll add my thoughts as well.

Know where you are going. This doesn’t just mean what country you are going to, but a pretty decent idea of your itinerary, and any side trips you have planned. By way of example, a visit to Uganda that involves both a visit to Lake Victoria and some time visiting the Gorillas in the highlands has three utterly different disease risks associated with it.

Talk to your travel doctor. They should be able to give you an idea of what your risks are, and what preventive steps you can take.

Know where your embassy is. This is one you should know anyway going to Africa for all kinds of reasons, but if you find yourself in need of medical help, without a command of the local language or knowledge of the health system, the embassy for your native country could come in handy.

Be Cautious. Get your vaccinations. All of them. Ask your travel doctor if they’d be willing to prescribe you a course of antibiotics useful against a broad range of pathogens – this is especially helpful for the inevitable food related mistake. If something looks sketchy, don’t eat it. Don’t engage in the commercial sex trade in Africa. Seriously, just don’t. Avoid things that can’t be peeled or cooked all the way through. This includes (perhaps especially) things like salads and leafy greens. Everyone thinks about meat, but a huge number of GI illnesses can be traced to vegetables.

Don’t necessarily trust “nice” places to be problem free. And yes, the TV shows are scary, but consider that they’re talking about the disease burden of an entire continent. I could make a pretty scary TV show about North American diseases if I was so inclined. Flesh eating bacteria, horrible respiratory diseases, a good hemorrhagic fever or two, brain eating proteins lurking in meat, Black Plague…

Obviously it depends on where you go, and when you go.

Different areas have different bugs, there is the malaria belt, and you’ll need Yellow Fever vaccinations for some countries.

The simplest answer to all this, especially if you’re paranoid: be as prepared as you possible can.

What this means:

• Have all appropriate vaccinations. This includes the essentials, the recommended, and asking if they have any other fun ones in the back you could get while you’re there. Rabies for example, is hardly ever suggested, but can be useful, and if you’re getting jabbed anyway, why not?!

• Have a medicine kit. Not a simple buy-from-your-supermarket one, but a proper one with bandages, splints, etc.

• Ask your doctor if he’s prepared to give you a run of antibiotics in advance. If you get really sick somewhere they may not be available, and you could start on your emergency run immediately!

• Sunscreen, mosquito nets, long but light sleeves, a hat – so simple, but so many don’t have them!

• All those ‘incidental’ but really really useful medicines – paracetomol/aspirin (painkillers), anti-vomiting, immodium (for traveller stomach), anti-itch cream for when bitten, anti-septic ointment for cuts / scrapes.

• Sexual protection, if you’re planning on engaging in any of that activity.

• Surgical gloves in your medicine kit

• Learn basic CPR and first-aid skills

• Anti-bacterial wipes/spray for your hands before you eat etc

• Let friends/family know your route, plans, schedule.

• Bring any medical records you have. It’d be terrible for a doctor to unknowingly give you a medicine which clashed with something you have or had been on, or were allergic to.

• research and print locations and contact details for doctors and hospitals in the areas you’re going. It’s soo much easier to do online from the comfort of your own home, than when you’re feeling sick and on the road with limited internet access!

When there:

• Always check the meat, that it’s freshly and properly cooked.

• Perhaps avoid the salads/vegetables if they’ve been washed in the local water.

• Always boil local water. Even use chemicals to kill bugs if you want (you can buy cannisters of the stuff)

• Apply common-sense.

Malaria

We have a great page on what happens with malaria itself!

Other disease – there are so many symptoms that they’re too many to list here. The most important thing is to listen to your body – it’ll tell you if there’s a problem. But with most of them, common signs of anything being wrong will include one or more or all of: headache, diarrhea, faintness, shortness of breath, coughing, unusual tiredness, spots in front of your eyes, loss of appetite, temperature (look for shivering), discoloration of the skin, unusual lesions or lumps, swelling – basically, something is wrong = could be a sign! 😉

While there are doctors in all countries, their skill, language abilities and knowledge will vary dramatically (I was made very aware of this in Tajikistan). Check online, sometimes there’s an international hospital or doctor, and these can be the most use as they’ll have valuable information and often drugs for people more susceptible to disease: foreigners like us 😉

In the end, it’s a bit of a lottery anyway. I’ve been to about 10 countries in Africa, and the only one I had stomach issues on was an organized, sanitized tour of Egypt. Everywhere else I was fine.

But remember, this is Africa you’re aiming for! Land of the wide horizon, great sunsets, abundant wildlife, and landscape as old as time itself. Take some risks, odds are that the rewards will far outweigh the risks themselves.

EDIT

Parasites

To add some more information, I found a great if slightly… ok VERY disturbing read on how to avoid getting parasites. Essentially it comes down to the same – don’t eat raw meat, etc etc, but there’s some good specific information there too.