Madagascar travel health
Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for Madagascar, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in Madagascar: Madagascar.
Required to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Recommended
- Hepatitis A
- Typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Rabies — strongly advised, because post-exposure treatment is hard to find here
- Malaria prophylaxis for the whole island
Emergency number
117 for an ambulance in Antananarivo; outside it, there is effectively no service
Care for visitors
Evacuation likely
Poor, and this is the thing to plan around. Antananarivo has two or three private clinics that can stabilise; everything else is a flight to Réunion or South Africa. Evacuation insurance is not optional here, and a policy that covers a medical flight is what you are buying.
Malaria is present across the entire island all year, including the coast and the parks. Plague occurs in seasonal outbreaks on the plateau and is treatable if caught early. Do not drink the tap water, do not swim in fresh water, and take the rabies course before you come rather than looking for it after a bite.
The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.
