Zambia travel health
Required is not recommended: the first is what the border asks about, the second is what a clinic would suggest. Both, for Zambia, then the number to dial and what care costs a visitor. Applies to every guide in Zambia: Livingstone, South Luangwa.
Required to enter
- Yellow fever certificate if arriving from a country where yellow fever is present — including a transit of more than twelve hours in one
Recommended
- Hepatitis A and typhoid
- Tetanus up to date
- Malaria prophylaxis — the risk is high everywhere, Livingstone and the Luangwa included
- Rabies for longer or rural stays
- Cholera for some itineraries
Emergency number
991 for police, 992 for an ambulance, 993 for fire
Care for visitors
Limited
Well below European standards, and basic in the countryside. Lusaka and Livingstone have private clinics that stabilise and refer. Anything serious means a flight to Johannesburg, and a safari camp’s answer to an emergency is an airstrip, so check the evacuation cover matches it.
Malaria everywhere and all year, worst in the rains from November to April. Bilharzia is in lakes and slow rivers, and the Zambezi has hippos and crocodiles, which is the better reason to stay out of it. Cholera returns in the rainy season; drink bottled or treated water.
The general rules — clinic timing, water, mosquitoes, insurance — are in travel health tips.
