Health, vaccinations and medical care in Myanmar

Where care exists

• The public health sector is under severe strain. Private facilities continue to operate.
• Outside Yangon and Mandalay you are unlikely to find competent medical advice and treatment easily, and what there is will not be to UK standards.
• In areas with an overnight curfew, such as Yangon, you may struggle to reach emergency healthcare at night. That is worth planning around rather than discovering.
• For serious illness or injury you may need transfer to a neighbouring country, most likely Thailand.

Paying for it

• You usually need to pay cash up front to get treated. Insurance that reimburses later does not open the door.
• Insurance must cover treatment, evacuation and repatriation, with accessible funds.
• Call the insurer as soon as you are referred.

Medicines

• UK prescriptions are not accepted in Myanmar pharmacies.
• Pharmaceutical products for sale could be counterfeit. Bring enough of anything you take regularly for the entire trip, in its original packaging.

The named risks

• Schistosomiasis from fresh water, so get local advice before swimming or bathing in a river.
• Contaminated food and water: hepatitis A, cholera, typhoid.
• Mosquito-borne: chikungunya, dengue, malaria, Zika.
• Altitude sickness in parts of the country.
• See a travel clinic at least 8 weeks before departure.