United Nations Medical Directors Vaccination and Malaria Prophylaxis Recommendations for UN Personnel on Official Travel and UN Health Care Workers April 2019

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United Nations Medical Directors Vaccination and Malaria Prophylaxis Recommendations For UN Personnel on Official Travel and UN Health Care Workers April 2019

 The following UN Medical Directors’ occupational health recommendations are provided to all Organizations and UN personnel in order to reduce the risk of UN personnel acquiring vaccine-preventable diseases and malaria.  Sections 1 and 2 should be applied to all UN personnel travelling on official business.  Section 3 should be applied specifically to UN health care workers, defined as all individuals involved in patient care.  Note that these recommendations should be applied according to factors such as an individual’s vaccination history, health status, destination/s, trip itinerary, type of travel, length of stay etc.  If this is a hard copy of the document, please be sure to check Travel Health Information (hr.un.org/travel-health-information) for the latest version of this document.  Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions on this document.

Category Description Vaccines or Malaria Prevention UN Medical Directors Specified Recommendations

Routine vaccines These vaccines are part of  Diphtheria, tetanus and  All UN personnel should be up-to-date recommended most national childhood pertussis (DTP) and current with this list of vaccines. All 1 for all UN vaccination programmes.  Measles, mumps and rubella vaccines should be received early personnel, (See (MMR) enough (ie on average 2 weeks) in regardless of who.int/ith/vaccines/en/)  Polio order to build adequate protection travel destination  Hepatitis B before departure.  Seasonal influenza (yearly shot)  Pre-travel consultation is a good opportunity for UN personnel to review their vaccination status with their health care provider before travelling.

DHMOSH Public Health Unit – April 2019

Vaccines and a) Vaccines made Examples include:  All UN personnel travelling should be malaria mandatory by certain aware of, and compliant to, the 2 prevention countries: Some countries  Yellow fever vaccine for destination country’s entry and exit recommended for require proof of travellers going to and coming requirements. all UN personnel vaccination for travellers from countries/areas at risk of travelling to wishing to enter or exit the yellow fever  For information on your destination certain country.  Meningococcal vaccine country’s stated requirements for destinations (Updates for pilgrims going to yellow fever and other diseases, please Saudi Arabia are available at see who.int/ith/en/. saudiembassy.net/hajj-and- umrah-health-requirements)  Individuals should also check with the  Polio vaccine (OPV or IPV) relevant consulate or embassy for the latest information.

b) Vaccines Examples include:  UN personnel should seek advice from recommended for certain your Organisation’s medical services to destinations:  Cholera assess your personal risk and get Some vaccines are  Hepatitis A and/or E recommendations on the vaccines recommended to provide  Japanese encephalitis needed for your destination. protection against diseases  Meningococcal endemic to the country of  Polio (adult booster dose)  In addition, UN personnel may also origin or of destination, and  Typhoid fever refer to wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/ for to protect travellers and  Rabies vaccines recommended according to prevent disease spread  Tick-borne encephalitis destination. within and between countries.

c) Malaria prevention Four types of malaria prevention  UN personnel travelling to countries needed: Mosquito bite (Type A, B, C, D) are specified by with malaria transmission areas should prevention and prophylaxis WHO, depending on a country’s consult https://www.who.int/ith/ith- with antimalarial medicines malaria risk profile (Table). country-list.pdf on which type of are recommended by malaria prevention to follow (Table). WHO for travel to countries with malaria transmission.  Note that the choice of malaria prophylaxis will depend on the exact location(s), duration and type of stay, and based on a specific health risk assessment, including personal medical history.

Vaccines UN healthcare workers  Hepatitis B  Health care workers are defined as all recommended for who work directly with  Polio persons involved in patient care 3 all UN healthcare patients or handle material  Diphtheria including physicians, nurses, workers that could spread infection  Measles emergency medical personnel, lab should either:  Rubella technicians, pharmacists and dentists.  Meningococcal - Be vaccinated against  Influenza  This list of vaccines are based on this list of diseases OR  Varicella WHO’s vaccine recommendations for health care workers available at - Have proof/ www.who.int/immunization/policy/Imm documentation of unization_routine_table4.pdf?ua=1 immunity against these diseases.

Table: Types of Malaria Prevention Recommended by WHO (pg 4 of https://www.who.int/ith/ith-country-list.pdf)