west africa with an 18 month old - vaccinations

[yentil]

I am flying to Ghana with my dd and dh in March 2007. Just found out that she has to have anti malaria; typhoid, yellow fever and hep a immunistations. am I being selfish to give her these. i am going to meet my father that i have not seen for 20 years.

i am anxious about mosquito bots etc and so would not go without her having the proper protection. has anyone vergiven their young child immunisations / vaccintions for a holiday?

any advice?

My dd had all the above when we flew to thailand, she was 4. Of course you are not being selfish by giving her protective injections, she needs them.
I would def give her anti malarial tablets, malaria is a killer . Get the right dose for her and get a bednet treated with the correct insecticide.
How amazing to see your dad after 20 years!

thanks for this. do feel very guilty. but will of course take necessary precautions. do you know of best place / website to find things like insecticide impregnated mosquito nets

try this site
They sell fair trade impregnated nets and for every few they sell they give one to Unicef to give to kids in africa

Will you be staying in aircon accomodation or in more basic places?
Far fewer mossies in aircon

Please don't worry about the vaccinations, both my dd and ds had them as we live in africa, both were very small and they barely batted an eyelid!

We give typhoid here at 2 and they have hep b and meningitis a and c when they are small. I don't remember any side effects for yellow fever nor typhoid but as with all vaccines give your dd some calpol afterwards and I'm sure she will be fine.

Anti malarials are important if you can get them into her! But as bluejelly says if you are staying in aircon places you should be fine, better not to drag her out with you at night make sure she is under her bednet from 7pm - 6am as the most dangerous time for exposure to malarial mossies is 9pm to 4am.

If you can't get a net in the UK ask your dad to get one for you in Ghana, they are excellent quality, cheap and already impregnated and distributed most everywhere.

More importantly have fun - Ghana is great and if you are in Accra the beach is fabulous and what fun to be meeting up with your father after such a long time.