Senegal travel health
Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for Senegal, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in Senegal: Dakar.
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
- Yellow fever, which is recommended for the whole country whatever the entry rule says
- Hepatitis A and typhoid
- Malaria prophylaxis — the risk is year-round and higher in the south and in the rains
Emergency number
17 for police, 18 for fire, 1515 for an ambulance
Care for visitors
Good but costly
Private clinics in Dakar are decent and are what visitors use; public hospitals are stretched. Outside the capital the options thin quickly and evacuation to Dakar or Europe is the plan for anything serious. Insurance with repatriation cover is not optional here.
Malaria is the real risk and it is year-round, worst from July to November after the rains. Take the tablets and use the net. The Atlantic here has strong rip currents, and the heat from March to June is heavy and humid on the coast.
The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.
