Ethiopia travel health
Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for Ethiopia, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in Ethiopia: Lalibela.
Required to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Recommended
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A and typhoid
- Rabies for rural travel
- Malaria prophylaxis below 2,000m — Lalibela at 2,500m is largely above the mosquito line
Emergency number
907 for an ambulance, 991 for police
Care for visitors
Limited
Addis Ababa has private hospitals used by the diplomatic community; outside it, facilities are very limited and Lalibela has a small health centre only. Anything serious means a flight to Addis and probably beyond. Carry a full personal medical kit and insurance that will actually fly you out.
Altitude: Addis is at 2,350m and Lalibela at 2,500m, high enough that the first day should be a slow one. Malaria is a lowland risk rather than a highland one. Tap water is not drinkable and the standard traveller stomach complaint is close to universal — take rehydration salts.
The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.
