Health Requirements: As you should before visiting any tropical or remote area, visit your doctor about eight weeks before leaving for Rwanda to discuss your plans and requirements to ensure a healthy trip, and make sure before you travel you have adequate medical insurance.

You will never be too far from any medical help in Rwanda as the main towns have hospitals and most towns have a pharmacy, however the range of products on sale may be limited.  One of the major problems facing the Rwandan health network is the severe shortage of qualified medical personnel caused by the targeting of professionals during the 1994 genocide. 

Food and water: Visitors to Africa often fall prey to Travellers' diarrhoea and other faecal-oral diseases, due to food or water that is contaminated with viruses, bacteria or parasites.  It is much rarer to get sick from drinking contaminated water but it does happen, so try and drink from safe sources. To make sure you are not exposed to these problems make sure you drink water which has under gone a purifying process and make sure that all the food you purchased is washed thoroughly, peeled and boiled.

Malaria: This is probably the greatest health risk to travellers in Rwanda, although it is less prevalent there, than in some other African Countries. There is no vaccine against malaria, but using prophylactic drugs and preventing mosquito bite (long sleeved clothes and pants) will considerably reduce the risk of contracting it, especially at night when they are most active. Seek medical advice from your doctor/pharmacist for any anti-malaria drugs. Anti-malaria drups are not 100% effective so your best resource is to make sure your covered up.

Dangerous Insects: Insects spread most diseases in East Africa. Dengue, filariasis, leishmaniasis, onchocerciasis, trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), and Rift Valley fever are all spread by mosquitoes, sandflies and tsetse flies. Avoid exposure to them by wearing longsleeved shirts/blouses and long pants at night (when the insects are most active), sleeping under a protective bed net and applying insect repellent frequently during the day.

Tumbu flies are a problem in areas of eastern, western and southern Africa where the climate it hot and humid. The flies hatch their eggs on the soil or your drying laundry and when the egg comes in to contact with the human flesh they hatch and bury themselves under the skin. They will then form a crop of 'boils' each of which hatches a grub after about 8 days. In active Tumbu Fly areas dry your clothes and sheets within a screened house, or dry them in direct sunshine until theyare crisp, or iron them.

Consult your doctor: About vaccinations against typhoid and poliomyelitits and any other diseases that you may need vaccinations for, like yellow fever.

Infectious and tropical diseases: Due to the possibility of contracting bilharzia (schistosomiasis) when swimming or wading in rivers or lakes, it is recommended that visitors avoid going into water that is not flowing freely. Visitors who are concerned about contracting bilharzia can have a routine monthly check once they get home, for about two months, to ensure they are fine. Tickbite fever, which you can get from infected ticks, can be avoided by wearing pants and socks when out in the bush and covering up with insect repellent.

Entry requirements:

Passports: All visitors should be in possession of a valid passport that won't expire within 6 months of the date they intend to leave Rwanda. If you lose your passport, or it is stolen, it will generally be easier to get a replacement passport if you travel with a photocopy of the original.
 
Visas: Check with your consulate for the most up-to-date information. Visas are erquired by all visitors except nationals of the USA, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. For visitors entering Rwanda by air, visas may now be issued at Kigali International Airport on arrival, however it would be wise to check this before travel.

If entering overland, it is probably best to obtain your visa from Rwandan embassies or high commissions in a neighbouring country. Further afield, there are Rwandan embassies or high commissions in various western countries with the ability to issue visas for entry and travel to Rwanda. The maximum duration for a visitor visa is three months and you can request single or multiple entry.

Health: You may sometimes at borders be asked for an International Health Certificate showing that you have had a Yellow Fever shot before entry if coming from a country where Yellow Fever is endemic.  We also strongly recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling.