Visitors to Uganda for Uganda safaris must possess and present a yellow
fever vaccination certificate or receive the shot at Entebbe airport and face
isolation for at least 10 days effective immediately! According to the Health
ministry spokesperson Rukia Nakamatte, the directive is part of a World Health
Organisation recommendation to prevent the spread of the disease which has
already claimed six lives in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected
mosquitoes and can kill from 10 to 14 days.
Uganda tourism had a difficult year – 2015 and all the
election “madness” has not made it easier. The obstruction of social media was
disappointing to the very few tourists the country had and the way the
government has handled the election aftermath has painted a gloomy picture
about the country.
Some circles have debated that the move to make a
yellow fever vaccination certificate a requirement for entry is an overreaction
by the Ministry of Health and that it is insensitive for the ministry not to
consult some key stakeholders like the tour operators before reaching such a
decision that the directive be implemented with immediate effect!
Yellow fever vaccination requires 10 days to be
effective, and given the time it will take to get this information into the
mainstream travel media and across travel agencies, tour operators and the
general public, the full extent of the potential downside becomes apparent.
If this is implemented overnight as stated, it will
mean that maybe hundreds if not thousands of visitors planning to fly to Uganda
over the next coming weeks, may have to be vaccinated, not an appealing
prospect given the perception visitors have about Uganda’s health facilities,
or as threatened, ‘put in an isolation unit‘.
At least 29 countries have been flagged as high-risk
countries within Africa and 13 within south and Central America. Some of the
African countries named include Angola, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ivory
Coast, Cameroon, DRC, Ethiopia, Benin, Chad, South Sudan and Sudan.
Other countries in Central and South America include;
Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago among others.
Intending visitors to Uganda (especially visiting Bwindi Forest National Park) are therefore advised to
immediately seek medical advice and undergo inoculation, but should remember
that the shot will only be effective after ten days. This gap, due to logistics
and perhaps the lack of vaccine or a nearby recognized vaccination center, may
widen this time frame to as much as several weeks, during which passengers
disembarking in Uganda will face the stark reality of either being vaccinated
or put into isolation.
Whether the government employed common sense or
tempered such a hasty decision in the broader interest of the country is still
a topic of debate especially among the Uganda tourism and travel circles.
