Malaria and Travel During The Christmas Festive Season

Christmas time is good time for visiting families and friends. Very often this involves people traveling to areas where malaria is a problem. In Southern Africa, the Christmas holiday coincides with the malaria transmission season, and therefore travelers coming from malaria free areas to malaria risk areas are urged to take malaria protective measures.

Malaria remains a serious public health problem in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. It is the second leading cause of illness and death, causing about 1.9 million malaria episodes and over 250,000 deaths each year in the sub-region. The intensity of malaria varies from country to country ranging from unstable to stable malaria transmission. In areas of stable transmission, children under five and pregnant women are at great risk of malaria whilst in unstable areas all age groups are at risk of contracting malaria. So far no malaria epidemics have been reported in the SADC region since the onset of the 2004 /2005 wet season. However there are possibilities of malaria outbreaks later on as dry spells, which encourage mosquito breeding, set in, in countries that have received heavy rains.

How can travelers protect themselves from malaria during the festive season?

Firstly, travelers should ask their health worker whether malaria transmission occurs in the place they are willing to visit. If travelers are visiting malaria risk area/s they are advised to:

	Use insecticide-treated mosquito nets over the bed during the night.
	Apply insect repellents to exposed skin at night to prevent mosquito bites. These should be used twice in the evening before dark and before going to bed.
	Take malaria prophylaxis treatment to prevent malaria – travelers should ask their pharmacist or health worker about the most appropriate drugs to take. The drugs should be started as directed before entering the malaria risk area and continued while in the area and for four weeks after leaving the area.
	If the traveler develops any flu-like symptoms namely, fever, headaches, muscular and joint pains, sweating, shivering attacks, nausea, diarrhoea and fatigue after a visit to malaria risk area, he/she should see their health worker immediately and tell him/ her about his/ her travel to a malaria area.
	Pregnant women should take anti-malaria treatment as directed by the country policy/ guidelines.

Remember malaria is preventable and curable – Do not let malaria ruin your holiday – Protect yourself, family and friends against malaria by:

	Being well informed about the risk of malaria infection in the areas of destination and where to get malaria information and where to seek advice.
	Using personal protection like mosquito nets, insecticide repellents, and preventive treatment.
	Seeking treatment early if having flu-like symptoms and completing your tablets as advised by your health worker.

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