Drinkable Water
First Aid Kit
Tools And Spares
Drinkable Water
First Aid Kit
Tools And Spares
Even though I generally have good health, I decided to take a comprehensive fist aid kit. As by all reports medical services are not to great right across Africa except around the cities and some large towns. I saw that the contents would need to cover two typical uses. The first being general colds, flew, upset stomach and other minor everyday ailments which I could suffer along the way. The second being able to patch up and treat serious wounds, like the ones that might be sustained in a car crash. This included sterile needles to be used for administering any drugs that I might need. Therefore I stocked the kit with a range of medicines for the common aliments, like aspirin, pain killers, cold and flew powdered drinks, suntan cream and some broad spectrum anti biotic. For serious injures I packed a range of different sized dressings and bandages along with antiseptic cream and Detal. This included a sterile kit of various needles and syringes. All this was then packed into a plastic toolbox for safe storage and quick access.
I will not even attempt to discuss the potential problems or pros or cons of the range of different anti malarial medicines on the market. As it is a massive subject, and has many different accounts of personal horror stories and differing opinions. So I will just tick to what I decided to do.
After looking into what drugs where on the market and what the potential side effect might be, I consulted my doctor to see what he recommended. After his in depth explanation of the different strains of malaria and the drugs to prevent them, there appeared to be only one choice that suited my trip, Lariam, Mefloquine. It was the only anti malarial that was licensed for a 1 year period of use, and the only one which is effective against all the different strains of malaria. As along my trip I would be passing though areas which would have many of the different strains. So I bought a trial pack and started taking them three weeks before I was set to leave on my trip. Gladly, I didn’t have any bad reaction and didn’t even get the weird dreams that many people report. So shortly before I left I stoked up on a years supply and added it to the first aid kit.
As a further precaution, I also took along some medicine to treat malaria called Fansidar. Which was well recommended by a friend who court malaria and had to use it.