Malawi travel health
Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for Malawi, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in Malawi: Lake Malawi.
Required to enter
- Yellow fever certificate, but only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever is present
Recommended
- Hepatitis A and typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Malaria prophylaxis — the risk is high throughout, the lakeshore included
- Polio booster for some travellers — vaccine-derived polio has been detected
- Rabies for longer or rural stays
- Cholera for some itineraries
Emergency number
998 for an ambulance, 997 for police — both unreliable, so get the local numbers from your lodge
Care for visitors
Evacuation likely
Basic. Lilongwe and Blantyre have private clinics; rural facilities are minimal, ambulances are scarce, and medicines run short. Serious cases are flown to Johannesburg or Nairobi. Carry your own first-aid kit and the full course of anything you take.
Lake Malawi carries bilharzia, and the risk is highest near reeds and villages — a test a few weeks after you get home is a sensible habit if you swam. Malaria is high everywhere. Malawi had the largest cholera outbreak in its history in 2022 and 2023, and cases rise in the rains. Mulanje reaches 3,000m.
The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.
