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moving to Kampala with a 15month baby

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Franita
  6/12/2010 03:23 EST

Hello
I am planning to move to Kampala in september with my son who will be 15 months old. His father works with the UN and he just a high post in Kampala. Although I have been travelling a lot in my life I suddendly feel scared moving to Kampala with a baby. I worry about the vaccins, especially the yellow fever he has to do at his age, all teh diseases that he cannot be vaccinated as he is too young, all the potential health problems that such a young baby might have in Kampala..Could you share your experience with me, especially if you have young children.
Thank you very much

MichelleTZ
  6/15/2010 08:31 EST

I just recently moved to Tanzania with a 14 month old...although I had been there several times before for short stays, this one is for good!

I think Uganda and Tanzania are very similar so here is my advice:

In terms of health, I would not be too worried. I made sure to get all the requestite vaccinations before we came here including Yellow Fever. There has not been a case of Yellow Fever on the mainland for like 10 years and it is not a requirement for TZ but I got it anyways just to be sure. I could not get Typhoid but that is one that concerns me more as they still have active cases so when she is two, I plan to get it here.

My baby had no adverse reactions to any of the vaccinations and it has given me piece of mind.

I also have two other children: ages 7 and 5 and they were fully vaccinated.

We are taking antimalarials but only for 3 months since you cannot be on them long term. 3 months is a good amount of time for your body to get adjusted to the climate and for your immune system to build up tolerances. Malaria is usually only fatal in few cases where the person is otherwise healthy and usually only because they have not sought medical care fast enough. Most people who die from it are malnurished or otherwised immuno-compromised.

Our children and ourselves sleep with bednets and fans-both of which ward off mosquitoes and we go out at night only slathered with bug spray. We have very few mosquitoes in our house so that helps too.

For my baby, I have made sure to keep her out of the sun for the first few months-let her play outside in the shade and inside with the fans and of course, plenty of naps and water. It is tricky to find baby items in TZ, particularly ones that are not astronomically expensive so I brought a lot with me. Diapers are not that expensive and are readily available but both formula and baby wipes have been challenging. I switched my daughter over to plain milk in anticipation of the trip, which has helped but the wipes continue to be an issue. I just paid $40 US for 8 small pkgs of wipes.

So far, I have had no concerns but if you need any more advice, let me know!

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