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. 2 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. 3 Table: Types of Malaria Prevention Recommended by WHO (pg 4 of https://www.who.int/ith/ith-country-list.pdf) 4 .