Philippines travel health
Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for Philippines, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in Philippines: Palawan, Boracay, Cebu & Bohol, Siargao, Banaue & the rice terraces.
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 — the Philippines has a significant rabies problem
- Japanese encephalitis for long rural stays
Emergency number
911
Care for visitors
Good but costly
Manila and Cebu have genuinely good private hospitals. Standards drop sharply on the smaller islands, where a clinic may be a nurse and a room — Palawan in particular means a flight to Manila for anything serious. There is a recompression chamber in Cebu and one in Coron for diving injuries.
Dengue is common and there is no prophylaxis. Do not drink tap water. Any animal bite means a clinic the same day. Divers should confirm their insurance covers the chamber and an evacuation flight.
The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.
The guides in Philippines
PalawanPhilippinesLimestone islands out of the sea, and lagoons you can only reach by boat
BoracayPhilippinesFour kilometres of white sand that the country closed for six months to clean, and reopened with rules
Cebu & BoholPhilippinesWhale sharks, waterfalls, and the country’s oldest city
SiargaoPhilippinesA teardrop island of coconut palms and reef breaks, still half the price of anywhere else this good
Banaue & the rice terracesPhilippinesTwo thousand years of terracing carved into the Cordillera, and villages you can only reach on foot