Health, vaccinations and medical care in Ethiopia

Altitude

• Addis Ababa is about 2,500 m above sea level, and Canada's travel health advice raises high-altitude illness for it.
• It usually shows up as a headache, breathlessness and poor sleep on the first night, and it is easily mistaken for jet lag.
• Rest, water and no alcohol on day one. If it gets worse rather than better, that is not acclimatisation.

Malaria

• An increase in malaria cases is being reported across Ethiopia.
• Risk varies by altitude, region and season, and antimalarials may be recommended depending on your itinerary. Addis itself is high enough to be low risk; the lowlands are not.
• Talk to a travel clinic about six weeks ahead, and treat any fever within a year of returning as malaria until proven otherwise.

Water-borne illness

• Cholera is a risk in parts of the country, though most travellers are at very low risk. Safe food and water precautions are the defence.
• Typhoid is present, also through food and water.
• Do not drink the tap water.

Medical care

• Facilities outside Addis Ababa are very limited.
• Insurance must cover local treatment and medical evacuation. Evacuation from a regional town is the scenario to insure for.
• Bring enough of your own medication for the whole trip, in original containers with a copy of the prescriptions, in hand luggage.