Before volunteers head over to their placements abroad, they need to take precautions as to the vaccinations and preventative medication that needs to be taken in preparation to their time abroad. Volunteer East always reminds volunteers of this and guides them to the right sources of information.
The first port of call should be your GP or nurse. They can advice you on the current recommendations in respective countries and make needed arrangements for you to have all vaccines and medications done in time. For generic information, the website called Netdoctor is useful (www.netdoctors.co.uk).
If you are travelling to Africa, a must is to have a yellow fever vaccination. It is a legal requirement and you may be refused to fly back to Europe if you have not had one done. The vaccine lasts in your blood stream for 10 years and will protect you against the disease during this time. Another must is anti-malaria tablets. These should be taken before the trip, during it and for some weeks afterwards. They will help you not to catch malaria, which is common in all the placement site countries.
There is no point in taking risks - you may think that it is unlikely that you will catch an illness when on your placement. However, you never know - you are in a new environment with new bacteria and viruses lurking around, with wild life just on your door step, so it is better to be careful than sorry!
For more information on yellow fever:
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/travel/diseases/yellowfever.htm
For more information on malaria:
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/travel/diseases/malaria_disease.htm
The first port of call should be your GP or nurse. They can advice you on the current recommendations in respective countries and make needed arrangements for you to have all vaccines and medications done in time. For generic information, the website called Netdoctor is useful (www.netdoctors.co.uk).
If you are travelling to Africa, a must is to have a yellow fever vaccination. It is a legal requirement and you may be refused to fly back to Europe if you have not had one done. The vaccine lasts in your blood stream for 10 years and will protect you against the disease during this time. Another must is anti-malaria tablets. These should be taken before the trip, during it and for some weeks afterwards. They will help you not to catch malaria, which is common in all the placement site countries.
There is no point in taking risks - you may think that it is unlikely that you will catch an illness when on your placement. However, you never know - you are in a new environment with new bacteria and viruses lurking around, with wild life just on your door step, so it is better to be careful than sorry!
For more information on yellow fever:
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/travel/diseases/yellowfever.htm
For more information on malaria:
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/travel/diseases/malaria_disease.htm
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