Health preparations before departure
Book a travel-health appointment ideally at least a month before travelling. Bring the places you will visit, trip length, activities, vaccination history and medicine list. A short resort stay and a longer rural trip can require different preparation.
The CDC Indonesia guidance covers routine vaccinations and travel-specific protection such as hepatitis A, typhoid, rabies and Japanese encephalitis. These are matters for an individual clinical assessment, rather than a vaccine list every visitor should follow. Explain if children, pregnancy, existing conditions or a remote side trip affect your plans.
Zika and pregnancy planning
The CDC’s Bali Zika notice advises pregnant travellers to avoid travel to Bali. People planning pregnancy should discuss the trip and the recommended delay after travel with their clinician. If travel cannot be avoided, follow the current CDC prevention advice.
Zika can spread through mosquitoes and sex. Prevention matters during and after the trip, including when someone has no symptoms. Use the current official guidance for your circumstances rather than assuming that returning home ends the precautions.
Mosquitoes and animal contact
Protect against mosquito bites during the day as well as at night. The mosquitoes that spread dengue commonly bite during daylight. Use a suitable repellent as directed, cover exposed skin and choose screened or enclosed sleeping spaces. Discuss vaccination questions with a healthcare professional.
Avoid feeding or touching monkeys, dogs, cats and bats. After an animal bite or scratch, wash the wound immediately with soap and water for 15 minutes and obtain urgent medical care, even if you have previously had rabies vaccination. Do not wait for symptoms or until you return to Australia.
Food, drinking water and stomach illness
Use drinking water from a safe supply. If its safety is uncertain, use sealed bottled water and avoid that supply for brushing teeth or making ice. Choose freshly cooked food and wash hands before eating; take particular care when preparing infant feeds.
Diarrhoea can cause dehydration. Oral rehydration solution can help replace lost fluid and salts. Obtain medical care promptly for dehydration, severe pain, bloody stools or worsening symptoms. Young children and older people can deteriorate quickly. A clinician should decide whether medicine or other treatment is needed.
Bring only medicines permitted in Indonesia
Cannabis and CBD products are prohibited even with an Australian prescription. Some other medicines, including certain ADHD treatments, are restricted. Resolve each active ingredient with Indonesian authorities before packing.
Keep permitted medicine in its original labelled packaging with the relevant prescription and doctor’s letter. Prepare the generic ingredient, dose and quantity when asking the authorities about your particular product; a brand name alone may not identify it.
Arrange treatment and payment
Indonesia is outside Australia’s reciprocal health-care agreements. Plan how treatment and possible medical evacuation would be paid for. Read the policy wording for existing conditions, scooters, diving and other activities you intend to do; a general travel-insurance label does not establish cover.
Save the insurer’s overseas assistance number and policy details offline. In a medical emergency, call 119 and seek local treatment. Contact the insurer’s assistance service about further arrangements; an appointment with the consulate is not the first step in obtaining urgent care.
If you become unwell during or after the holiday, tell the treating clinician where you travelled and about relevant bites, water exposure or animal contact.
Sources
- US CDC: Indonesia travel-health preparations
- US CDC: Zika in Indonesia travel-health notice
- US CDC: preventing Zika transmission
- Australian CDC: dengue prevention and illness
- Australian CDC: rabies and urgent care after exposure
- Healthdirect: diarrhoea, dehydration and urgent care
- Victorian Government: preventing traveller’s diarrhoea
- Services Australia: reciprocal health-care countries
- Smartraveller: choosing travel insurance
- Smartraveller: current Indonesia travel advice