…I had a malaria prophylaxis done using MALARONE; not that cheap, but sensible when travelling to Kenya’s coastal regions. The advantage of these tablets is that they only have a very small risk of side effects. (I had no side effects at all). They can also be taken when going diving and can be taken at a relatively short time before leaving on holiday, about 24 – 48 hours beforehand. After that, one tablet a day has to be taken right through the holiday up to 7 days after returning. An alternative are the more reasonably priced Lariam. The best thing to do is talk to your local practitioner about them because the tablets have to be prescribed anyway. I went to the local health authorities to talk about vaccinations, they gave me a yellow fever jab (only cost a few Euros), it is not that necessary to be inoculated against typhoid and cholera.

One would like to make it quite clear that it is absolutely necessary to make sure that all vaccinations are up to date, a visit to the doctor or to the local health authorities is a good opportunity and recommendable. One is provided with a vaccination certificate, one should not wait until the very last minute, especially if you want your other vaccinations refreshed at the same time. These are:

Polio
Lock Jaw (Tetanus)
Diphtheria
Hepatitis A and B

The malaria prophylaxis is no guarantee that one will not become the illness. This is why prevention is sensible: Because mosquitoes are active during the evening and night time, it is better not to go out in shorts during these times. Clothing that covers the skin is recommendable, this means long trousers, socks (!), and shirt. It is not possible to completely avoid the mosquitoes; I received a few nasty bites, especially whilst I was asleep even though I had a mosquito net and/or air conditioning. I hadn’t used the mosquito net properly, can happen when one has had a few too many, or by not using the net and relying on the air conditioning such as I tried out. The mosquitoes don’t fly from warm to cold, probably wasn’t cold enough, a small dilemma: If the air conditioning is set too warm it will attract the mosquitoes (so it is better to use the mosquito net which is normally available), if too cold one can catch a cold. Unfortunately both cases happened to me alternatively.

The cold I caught had malaria symptoms, a mate who I got to know there thought so to. He has been visiting Kenya for the past 15 years and he had actually caught malaria. A few years back he suddenly had a high temperature, los of appetite and sensitivity to light. Back then, he went to a small “hospital” in Mtwapa (about 3 kilometres from Indiana), and had the usual check up, the test results were positive. He was given medicine and tablets from an English manufacturer and after a time the malaria had actually cleared up. The next test then proved to be negative. 

He urgently recommended that I go for a check up and tests, I was thinking about this anyway because without treatment this illness can very easily end up with death. The only difference is that I would have gone to Mombasa to a modern clinic. My mate said that here in Kenya they have so much experience with the illness that it would be quite all right to go to the local clinic. I myself would not have though about that because this “Hospital” consisted only of a waiting room, a laboratory if one could call it that (it did have a microscope though), and a room out the back.

The method of carrying out a check up didn’t make one feel that they could really be trusted: The doctor (or was he a male nurse?), Extracted a drop of blood by pricking my finger, my mate told me to make sure that these needles are sterile, meaning that they have to be taken out of the sterile packaging in front of ones own eyes. The drop of blood is put on a small pane of glass, spread about, and then submerged in a glass with some blue liquid. After a few minutes I was told the result: Negative. Thank God for that! So I only had a slight cold from the air-conditioning, which thanks to 3 days of care by the appropriate “nurse” was cured.

The cost of the whole “treatment” came to a few hundred KSH including the tip for the doctor, but that was only because he asked “can you give me a tip?”. Thanks to my mate I was prepared for this question, if he hadn’t told me about this I would have probably looked a bit stupid. So. “Sure!” was the answer, and all were happy. These people have to fight for a living every day, and €2 doesn’t hurt us at all.

Apart from this, if the own personal first aid kit hasn’t got something one needs, then one can always fall back on the chemist. Once I bought Immodium in Nakumatt to treat the runs, and somewhere else I bought Aspirin for a few cents (I needed more of these pills than I had expected before setting off on my holidays).

Yeah, the runs: Got me a few times as well, but luckily enough not very heavily. It is better not to eat at any old street stall, which is quite obvious when taking a look at what is on offer (see food below). But even in the hotel and restaurant kitchens there is no guarantee that they are very hygienic…. What can one do? One has to eat anyway; there is always a portion of luck in the matter.
By the way: None of the vaccinations are compulsory.