Antimalarials

Hi everyone,

As I'm only about a month away from my departure to Kigali, I visited the doctor today to get my prescription for antimalarials. I'll be in Kigali for about a year and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with long term antimalarial use and accessibility to the medications in Kigali?

Thanks!

Hello you,

I am a South African being in various African countries for more than a decade.

Personally I dont take malaria tablets as the continious use (more than 3 months) can have side effects and can also cause liver damage. It also supresses the malaria symptoms only to realise you have it when its already severe.

Malaria infection is associated with cold and flu symptoms, headache, back or body aches and fever. The best is when you experience these symptoms to go for a blood test, malaria test positive when you have a fever, not really before then. When treated in time its over within 3 days.

Becareful at dusk and dawn as its when the malaria mosquito is most active and mostly 500mm above ground.

Nothing serious and hope I havent scared you off. I had a few times already (in west africa) and still remain crazy as ever.

Come enjoy the thousand hills, this place is wonderful

Thanks very much for the reply! I was also advised by the pharmacist (from East Africa) that often people don't take antimalarials but treat it when it comes up.

Ya... cheap and easy to treat (well cheap... I'm not sure what sort of nastiness it causes before you get better) and it doesn't seem to be common in Kigali anyway. I don't think I know of many people here now who take anti malarials.