During the preparation en the journey AfricAlive is supported for issues
on health by the Travelclinic
of Havenziekenhuis Rotterdam. The Travelclinic supports us with vaccinations,
antimalaria medication and medical consulting. In the following film doctor
Overbosch from the Travelclinic tells something about health and traveling
in the tropics. Unfortunately for those who don’t speak Dutch, the
film is in Dutch.
Vaccinations
To prevent infectious diseases during a trip to the tropics a good preparation
is important. It’s wise to get vaccinations before you leave to
your destination. We went for advice and vaccinations to the Travelclinic.
They advised us to get the following vaccinations:
Malaria
Malaria is a dangerous and not rare infectious disease of the tropics.
Malaria kills approximately one million people a year and there’s
no vaccination for Malaria. To prevent you of getting malaria it’s
possible to take malaria medication as a prophylaxis. There’re different
kind of types of malaria and numerous malaria prophylaxis. We used Lariam
250 mg as prevention, which you take once a week. Happily none of us had
any side effects.
Malaria is caused by a parasite which is transmitted on humans by the
female Anopholes Mosquito. So it would be clear that it’s important
to for come to be bitten. For this it’s wise to wear long trousers
and sleeves after nightfall, sleep under a mosquito net and use insect
repellent like DEET. TravelSafe sponsored us with nets and DEET.
A quick way to make the diagnosis Malaria is the malaria quick test.
To conduct this test is simpel but needs some training. Besides that the
Travelclinic gave us some quick tests they trained us how to use them.
Accident
If you don’t get sick from a tropical disease there’s always
the chance of getting in a traffic accident. The number of accidents in
the African continent is much higher than in Europe. In general African
drivers are reckless and they use crappy cars. The roads can be in very
bad condition and traffic rules aren’t always that clear. So to
be well prepared for an accident of any kind Chritso Motz trained us in
first aid skills during his First
Aid Wilderness Weekend.
Diarrhea
Probably any one who travels to the tropics will get diarrhea eventually.
To for come this discontent it’s important to pay attention on what
you drink and eat. Look out for raw flesh like chicken and pork. Don’t
drink watter from the tap and look out for ice cubes and washed fruit
and vegetables. If there’s no clean drinking watter you can use
chemicals such as jodium and chloride to purify watter. Hadex is such
a product. We also carried along a water purifying pomp, which worked
on the car battery of the Pathfinder.
By vomiting and diarrhea it’s possible to loose too much moisture
in a short period of time. You then speak of dehydration which can be
life threatening. For example cholera is a cause of dehydration. If dehydration
is likely ORS (oral rehydration solution) is a good medicine to restore
body liquid balance without extracting minerals and nutrients.
Medical kit
If you might get sick or wounded a good compiled medical kit is necessary.
Take care that you take enough of your daily medicine with you. Furthermore
we had antimalaria medication, antibiotics, painkillers and allergy medication
with us.
Also take in mind that African hospitals in general aren’t well
equipped and HIV infection rates are high. So we carried sterile needles
and such with us to for come any infection by used material.
See for a total overview of our medical kit the
following list.