Travel Advice: Congo (Democratic Republic)

Sub Saharan Africa
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Still current at: 04 January 2009
Updated: 02 January 2009
This advice has been reviewed and reissued with amendments to the Health section (Ebola). The overall level of this advice is unchanged.

Health

The Centre Prive d'Urgence (CPU) clinic in Kinshasa is able to cope with basic health problems and to stabilise a patient after most serious accidents. Outside Kinshasa, western standard medical facilities are practically non-existent. Medical evacuation to South Africa (or elsewhere) is advisable as soon as possible. You should ensure that you have comprehensive medical and travel insurance, to include specifically the very high costs of evacuation by air ambulance. Minimum turnaround time for evacuation by air ambulance is 10 hours.

Malaria, rabies, polio, meningitis and cholera are common in DRC.

There has been a further outbreak of the Ebola virus in the West Kasai province (southern DRC). You should take precautions against the virus, which include careful hand-washing, avoiding contact with potentially-infected patients and avoiding any contact with ill or dead animals.

Monkey pox occurs in DRC. The monkey pox virus is usually transmitted to humans from infected ground squirrels and rodents. Symptoms include a fever, the appearance of pus-filled blisters all over the body, and lymph node swelling. You should avoid contact with people suffering these symptoms and with animals.

Large numbers of cases of typhoid fever have also been diagnosed in DRC in 2008. Plague has been reported in Orientale Province (north-eastern DRC).

Large numbers of cases of acute watery diarrhoeal syndrome have been reported among people living in camps for internally displaced people in North Kivu province (easter DRC) since September 2008. In many instances these have been fatal. In areas of poor sanitation it is not advisable to drink water unless it has been treated by boiling and filtration or with a chemical purifier. You should avoid drinks with ice in them and food which has been rinsed in water from unknown or unhealthy sources.

You should exercise normal precautions to avoid exposure to HIV/AIDS. For more general information on how to do this see HIV and AIDS.

You should seek medical advice before travelling to DRC and ensure that all appropriate vaccinations are up-to-date. For further information on vaccination requirements, health outbreaks and general disease protection and prevention you should visit the websites of the National Travel Heath Network and Centre NaTHNaC and NHS Scotland's Fit For Travel or call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47.