>1. Yellow Fever Certificates
>> 2. Aircraft, Ships and Vehicles From Certain Countries
>>> 3. Polio Prevalent Virus Countries Listed
>> >>4. Flu Shots Especially Elderly
>> >>>5. Limited Foods Only Sealed Containers
>>>>>> 6. Health Emergencies, disease outbreaks - World Health Org.
The Ministry of Health has issued health requirements to be met for Hajj and Umrah seasons of 1430 (2009) by pilgrims and Umrah performers.

SWINE FLU PRECAUTIONS: The recommendations promulgated by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health include:
>>>> A. The age of a pilgrim for Hajj or Umrah - not over 65 years nor less than 12 years.

>>>> B. Pilgrims suffering from chronic diseases, i.e. heart disease, liver, kidney and complications of diabetes, obesity or any other diseases affecting the health and immunity should not perform Umrah or Hajj until the condition improves.

>>>>C. Hajjis (pilgrims) for Hajj 2009 the Minister stresses according to these recommendations persons visiting the Two Holy Mosques, take seasonal flu vaccine two weeks prior to visiting the two holy places, and if available before Hajj season, the swine flu vaccine should be taken two weeks prior to travel.

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First -Yellow Fever:______________________________________ [TOP MENU]

1- All pilgrims arriving from yellow fever endemic countries (shown below) to present a valid health certificate of vaccination against the disease according to the International Health Regulations. The certificate should show that its holder is vaccinated against the disease before the arrival in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia within a duration of not less than 10 days and not exceeding more than 10 years.

2- According to international health regulations, all aircraft, ships and the various means of transport arriving from the infected countries are required to present a valid certificate of the extermination of insects namely mosquito on-board.

Following are Yellow Fever endemic countries:

Angola

Benin
Sudan
Senegal
Burkina Faso
Central African Republic
Cameroon
Burundi
Chad
Uganda
Congo
Côte d'Ivoire
Sierra Leone
Somalia
Ethiopia
Democratic Congo
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Equatorial Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Togo
Kenya
Liberia
Sao Tomé and Principe
Mauritania
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
Tanzania
Mali
Ecuador
French Guiana
Guyana
Brazil
Bolivia
Suriname
Peru
Panama
Trinidad and Tobago
Venezuela
Colombia
Argentina and Paraguay.

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Second - Meningococcal Meningitis___________________________ [TOP MENU]

A-for people from all nations of the world are requested to present valid certificate of vaccination against Meningococcal Meningitis, showing a period not less than 10 days of its issuance and not exceeding 3 years on the bases that every country makes sure the vaccination is completed on adults and children over the age of two years of a single dose of the ACYW135.

B- Coming from the African belt countries.

Namely:
Sudan
Mali
Burkina Faso
Guinea
Guinea Bissau
Nigeria
Ethiopia
Côte d'Ivoire
Niger
Benin
Cameroon
Chad
Eritrea
Gambia
Senegal
Central Africa

In addition to the ACYW135 vaccine, as mentioned above, the health authorities in Saudi Arabia outlets will be giving them preventive dose / single 500 mg dose of ciprofloxacin in order to reduce potential microbe carrying rate.

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Third - Poliomyelitis_____________________________________ __ [TOP MENU]

1 All pilgrims arriving from still prevalent Polio-Virus-transmitting countries, namely:
Uganda
Kenya
Benin
Angola
Togo
Niger
Burkina Faso
Mali
Central African Republic
Chad
Côte d'Ivoire
Ghana
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ethiopia
and Nepal are requested to have vaccination of children under 15 with oral polio vaccine (polio vaccine oral) before the arrival in the Kingdom within a period of six weeks and provide a certificate to prove it. They will be given another dose of oral polio vaccine upon arrival in the Kingdom.

2 - All pilgrims of all ages arriving from Poliomyelitis endemic countries namely
Nigeria
India
Pakistan
Afghanistan
Sudan are requested to have oral polio vaccine before their arrival in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia six weeks in advance and prove it with an authenticated certificate. They will be given another oral polio vaccine upon arrival in the Kingdom regardless of age.

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Fourth - Seasonal Influenza Virus Vaccine___________________ [TOP MENU]

The Ministry of Health recommends all pilgrims both from outside and inside Saudi Arabia, to take vaccine against seasonal influenza virus before they commence Hajj or Umrah journey, especially those most vulnerable to complications of the flu, such as the elderly and persons with chronic respiratory diseases, diabetics, renal, liver and cardiac failure.

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Fifth - Food Materials____________________________________ [TOP MENU]

All foodstuffs are prohibited including food materials brought by the pilgrims or Umrah performers among their luggage unless the food they brought is canned or sealed in a container or it has an easy opening in containers for inspection and only in quantities sufficient for the road journey and nothing more than that.

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Sixth - Health Emergencies, Disease Outbreaks_______________ [TOP MENU]

Should there occur cases of health emergency or a concern for the outbreaks of diseases subjected to international health regulations from any country that pilgrims and Umrah performers come from, the Saudi health authorities might take any additional precautionary measures to those above-mentioned requirements in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) in a timely manner in order to avoid the spread of infection among the pilgrims and Umrah performers or transmit infection to their home-countries.