Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HEALTH
Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in the Americas, and the public health system is
extremely limited. Generally speaking, the larger the city or town, the better the med-
ical care available is likely to be. In La Paz and Santa Cruz, English-speaking doctors
trained overseas are fairly easy to find. Standards decrease rapidly the further you go
from the cities, and in rural areas medical facilities are poor to non-existent. If you have
a choice, private hospitals and clinics are better staffed and equipped than public ones.
Make sure you have adequate health insurance before you leave home, as costs can
mount rapidly, and remember to obtain itemized receipts of your treatment so that you
can recover your costs.
You'll find
pharmacies
(
farmacias
) in most Bolivian towns; in larger places they operate a
rota system, with at least one staying open 24 hours a day. These sell a wide range of familiar
drugs and medicines without prescription (many, for example, sell the morning-after pill), so
for minor ailments you can usually buy what you need over the counter. For any serious ill-
ness, you should go to a doctor or hospital; these are detailed throughout the guide in the rel-
evant city listings. Many Bolivians are too poor to afford modern medical attention, and most
make frequent recourse to traditional
herbalists
, known as
curanderos
- the most famous are
the
Kallawayas
from the Cordillera Apolobamba. In addition, the market of every town has a
section selling curative plants, herbs and charms for the most common ailments.
Although Bolivia is home to some very unpleasant
tropical diseases
, you shouldn't get too
paranoid about contracting them: most are rare and pose more of a threat to poor locals with
limited access tohealthcare andclean water.Mostseriousillnesses canbeavoided ifyoutake
the necessary precautions and make sure you have the right
vaccinations
before you go.
If you're planning a long trip it's worth consulting your doctor before you leave, as well as
having a
dental check-up
before you go. Take an adequate supply of any prescription medi-
cines you normally use and, if you wear glasses or contact lenses, carry a spare pair and a
copy of your prescription.
It's currently recommended that visitors to Bolivia have
immunizations
for hepatitis A,
typhoid and yellow fever. Advice can change, however, so check with your doctor or a travel
clinic at least two months before travelling so that there's time to have any courses of injec-
tions you might need. You should also make sure your polio and tetanus vaccinations and
boosters are up to date. In the case of
yellow fever
, make sure you get an international vac-
cination certificate: you may have to show this when entering an infected area or arriving in
the Bolivian Amazon from Brazil or Peru, and a certificate is always required when travel-
ling overland to Brazil from Bolivia. If you don't have the certificate, you'll have to have an
inoculation there and then.
