MOH Health Regulations for 1430 H
Riyadh, 25/05/2009
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:
- that the age of a pilgrim or an Umrah performer should not be over 65 years or less than 12 years
- that pilgrims suffering from chronic diseases such as 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 situation improves.
As for those performing Hajj this year, the Minister stressed that according to these recommendations persons heading to the Two Holy Mosques, should take seasonal flu vaccine two weeks before travelling to the holy places, and if the swine flu vaccine is available before Hajj season, it should be taken two weeks prior to travelling.
Firstly: Yellow Fever:
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.
Secondly: Meningococcal Meningitis
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.
Thirdly: Poliomyelitis
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, 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.
Fourthly, Seasonal Influenza Virus Vaccine
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.
Fifthly, Food Materials
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.
Sixthly, in the case of a 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.