Laos travel health
Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for Laos, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in Laos: Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng.
Required to enter
Nothing. No vaccination certificate is asked for at the border.
Recommended
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Rabies — strongly, as treatment here is hard to obtain
- Japanese encephalitis for rural stays
Emergency number
1195 for tourist police, 195 for an ambulance — but response is slow and often absent outside Vientiane
Care for visitors
Evacuation likely
Be honest with yourself about this before you come: medical care in Laos is poor, including in the capital. Anything serious means evacuation to Thailand — usually Udon Thani or Bangkok — and that flight costs tens of thousands of euros. Travel insurance with evacuation cover is not optional here in the way it is elsewhere in the region.
Malaria is present in the rural south and along the borders — take advice on prophylaxis for those areas. Dengue is countrywide. Unexploded ordnance from the American bombing still contaminates large parts of the country; stay on marked paths and do not pick anything up.
The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.
