One vaccine is required to enter Ghana: yellow fever, for every traveller aged 9 months and over, whatever their nationality and wherever they are flying from. The others are recommended, and which you need depends on how long you stay and how you travel.
Yellow fever: the one that is checked
Port Health officers check the certificate at Kotoka before you reach immigration, and at the land borders. Without it you may be vaccinated on the spot at your own cost, or refused entry.
- Get it at least 10 days before you arrive. The certificate is valid from the tenth day after vaccination, under the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulations.
- One dose lasts for life. A certificate issued since 2016 does not need renewing, and older ones are accepted as lifelong too.
- It must be the yellow international certificate, filled in and stamped by a registered yellow fever centre. A note from a doctor is not one.
- If you cannot have the vaccine - in pregnancy, with some immune conditions, or an allergy to egg - a registered centre can issue a medical waiver on the same certificate. Carry it; it is up to the officer to accept it.
Buy the certificate only where the needle is
Ghanaian newspapers have exposed certificates sold without a vaccination. A fake one fails the check, and it leaves you unprotected against a disease that kills. Get it from a registered centre, with the jab.
The Ghanaian yellow fever card at the airport
Ghanaians and residents travelling out are asked for a yellow fever card by many destination countries. The Ghana Airports Company’s Port Health desk at Kotoka issues one with the vaccine: ₵100 for a Ghanaian and $20 for a foreign national. Ask for a receipt, and if you are asked for more than this, ask to see the published fee.
Recommended for most travellers
| Vaccine | Who | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Typhoid | Most travellers | Spread through food and water |
| Hepatitis A | Anyone not already vaccinated, aged one and over | Spread through food and water |
| Hepatitis B | Anyone not already vaccinated | Spread through blood and sex, and through medical care |
| Routine vaccines | Everyone | Measles, polio, tetanus and the rest should be up to date |
Recommended for some
- Meningitis. The north of Ghana is in the African meningitis belt, with outbreaks in the dry season from December to June. Accra is outside it; long stays or travel north are reasons to ask.
- Rabies. For long stays, work with animals, or children, who are bitten more and report it less. Any dog bite needs treatment the same day either way.
- Cholera. Only where there is an active outbreak.
Ask a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you go: some vaccines need two doses.
Malaria has no vaccine for travellers
Malaria is the biggest health risk in Ghana, all year, in Accra as much as anywhere. The vaccines given to Ghanaian children are not given to adult visitors. Protection is tablets, taken as prescribed before, during and after the trip, and not being bitten. — Malaria and health in Accra