Travellers to developing countries should start with long term basic health protection. This means vaccinations against Polio, Tetanus, Typhoid and Hepatitis A.
Other vaccinations will depend on where you are going, local conditions at that time and your anticipated environment. Visitors to Yellow Fever areas such as West Africa should definitely be vaccinated against it.
Consult a health specialist or a travel advisory service and start early, a series of jabs may take up to six weeks to complete, so get on with it! Check links for the latest news and don't forget your travel insurance, it's really worth the money.
Food and Drink
Water: In developing countries avoid drinking or even brushing your teeth with tap water. Drink bottled water and check that the cap is securely sealed when you buy it. Turning it upside down and watching for drips is one method of checking.
If you can't buy it, sterilize it by boiling or dropping in purification tablets or iodine.
Do not take ice in your drinks, unless it is clearly frozen mineral water.
Tea, coffee, soft drinks and booze are fine from a bacterial point of view, though not so fine from a dehydration standpoint.
Don't share water bottles with other travellers unless you want to share their bugs too.
Water filters are ok in theory but can break easily and usually don't filter some serious viruses, such as Hepatitis A and E.
Force yourself to drink clean water, lots of it, if you want to avoid headaches and lethargy from dehydration. And no, beer will have the opposite effect by dehydrating you even more.
Water requirements at home are 6 glasses per day, so multiply that figure by at least 3 in tropical environment.
Food: Avoid ice cream from dodgy sources, raw fish, food kept warm, salads and uncooked food - unless you can peel it or shell it yourself. Most cases of rampant diarrhoea come from unhygienic food, not unclean water.
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