South Africa: Do I need a Yellow Fever Certificate?

Yellow Fever?
Yellow fever is a virus carried by the Aedes mosquito that leads to death in about 25% of patients. There is no specific treatment, but vaccination is very effective.
Yellow Fever Certificate?
International law requires travellers crossing the borders of countries where yellow fever is endemic to have yellow fever vaccinations. After you have been vaccinated you will be issued with a Yellow Fever Certificate. The certificate only becomes valid ten days after vaccination, and stays valid for ten years.
Do I need a Yellow Fever Certificate when travelling to South Africa?
If you have travelled in a Yellow Fever region in the six days before you wish to visit South Africa, you will have to show your Yellow Fever Certificate when you enter the country.

African Countries:

• Angola
• Burkina Faso
• Cameroon
• Central Africa Republic
• Democratic Republic of Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• Ethiopia
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea-Bissau
• Liberia
• Mali
• Sao Tome & Principe
• Senegal
• Uganda
• Tanzania
• Burundi
• Benin
• Chad
• Rwanda
• Cote d'Ivoire
• Sierra Leone
• Sudan
• Gabon
• Guinea
• Congo
• Kenya
• Togo
• Somalia

South & Latin American countries:

• Brazil
• Colombia
• Guyana
• Peru
• Venezuela
• Bolivia
• Ecuador
• Panama
• Suriname
• French Guiana

Please contact your next South African embassy to double check the information given. The official South African websites acutally name different countries as "yellow fever countries". The official 2010 World Cup website of the Ministry of Home Affairs for example names "Zaire" as one of the countries in the "yellow fever belt". The Democratic Republik of the Congo used to be Zaire - untill 1997!

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