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Health and Safety

Health and Safety

Health

Malaria is endemic and very common in Lagos so it’s a good idea to take antimalarials during your stay (most likely Malarone). If you don’t get a prescription before you leave your home country, you can buy it over the counter in pharmacies. Just be forewarned that it’s very expensive ($100+ for two weeks worth of pills)

Alternatively, you could skip antimalarials but take precautions to not get bitten by mosquitos. If you go this route, I’d recommend picking up a malarial test from any pharmacy here along with Coartem, the first-line treatment (less than $5 for both the test and treatment). This way, if you do develop a fever you can quickly diagnose + treat. With Malaria, early detection is crucial.

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Many more drugs can be ordered over the counter here than abroad. Just whatsapp a pharmacy like Medplus with what you need and they can deliver. The same is true for diagnostics - just whatsapp a diagnostics provider like Beacon Health and they can do house calls to take samples. If you need to visit a hospital here, the best is probably Evercare.

Safety

While safety is a big issue in most parts of the country, security isn't a major concern for us in Lagos and we regularly walk, run, and bike around. That being said, because of the heat, traffic, and distance between things, you'll want to take Bolt, Uber, or InDrive most places.

Be careful traveling later at night. Police checkpoints are not an issue during the day but get much more common past 10pm. All of our Nigerian friends have awful stories of police harassment and extortion. If you're a foreigner you're somewhat protected from the worst of this, but may still encounter it.