Philippines Embassy: 202-467-9300 Manila GMT +8 hrs

Entry Requirements:
Travelers should contact the Embassy of the Philippines for entry information.
HIV Test: Applicants for permanent residence must be tested. Travelers should contact the Philippine Embassy for current requiremnents.
Vaccinations: A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required from all travelers older than 1 year arriving from infected areas or from any country in the Yellow Fever Endemic Zones. Cholera: A valid vaccination certificate may be required if arriving from an infected area.
Telephone Country Code: 63

Embassies/Consulates: U.S. Embassy: 1201 Roxas Boulevard, Manila City; Tel: 2-523-1001; Fax: 63-2-522-3242; Web: usembassy.state.gov/posts/rp1/wwwh3004.html.
Consulate: PCI Bank, Gorordo Avenue, Lahug, Cebu City; Tel: 32-231-1261.
Canadian Embassy: Allied Bank Centre, 6754 Ayala Avenue, Makati City; Tel: 2-867-0001; Fax: 810-4299; E-mail: manil@dfait-maeci.gc.ca; Web: www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/manila.

Hospitals / Doctors:
Makati Medical Center, Manila (700 beds); multi-specialty clinic; 24-hour ambulance and emergency services; ICU. Tel: 2-815-9911.
Dr. Danilo G. Jarina, Makati Medical Towers, Suite 310, 103 Herrera Street, Legaspi Village. Tel: 2-892-1378.
University of Santo Tomas Hospital, Espana, Manila. Tel: 2-731-3001.
Calamba Medical Center, Calamba (110-beds); most specialties; 24-hour ambulance and emergency services; Tel: 49-545-2934.

Current Advisories & Health Risks:

Accidents & Medical Insurance:
Accidents and injuries are the leading cause of death among travelers under the age of 55 and are most often caused by motor vehicle and motorcycle crashes; drownings, aircraft crashes, homicides, and burns are lesser causes.
Heart attacks cause most fatalities in older travelers.
Infections cause only 1% of fatalities in overseas travelers, but, overall, infections are the most common cause of travel-related illness.
Travelers are advised to obtain, prior to departure, supplemental travel health insurance with specific overseas coverage. The policy should provide for direct payment to the overseas hospital and/or physician at the time of service and include a medical evacuation benefit. The policy should also provide 24-hour hotline access to a multilingual assistance center that can help arrange and monitor delivery of medical care and determine if medevac or air ambulance services are required.

Animal Hazards:
Animal hazards include snakes (cobras), centipedes, scorpions, and black widow spiders.
Monkey bites are not uncommon, and can transmit rabies and herpes B virus.
Stingrays, jellyfish, nettles, sea cucumbers, sea wasps (potentially fatal), urchins, anemones, and the Indo-Pacific man-of-war are common in the country’s coastal waters and are potentially hazardous to unprotected or careless swimmers.

Cholera: This disease is reported active in this country, but the threat to tourists is very low. Cholera is an extremely rare disease in travelers from developed countries. Cholera vaccine is recommended only for travelers at high risk who work and live in highly endemic areas under less than adequate sanitary conditions.
The manufacture and availability of the injectable cholera vaccine in the United States ceased in June 2000.
Many countries, including Canada, license an oral cholera vaccine.
Cholera vaccine is not "officially" required for entry into, or exit from, any country.

Dengue Fever: Dengue fever occurs countrywide, including urban and periurban areas, year-round. Peak infection rates occur during the rainy season, May through November. Prevention of dengue consists of taking daytime protective measures against daytime mosquito bites.

Filariasis: Bancroftian and Malayan forms of the disease are transmitted by mosquitoes in rural areas. Filariasis is endemic on Luzon, Leyte, Marinduque, Mindanao, Mindoro, Palawan, Samar, and Sulu. Travelers to these islands should take measures to prevent insect bites.

Helminthic Infections: Clonorchiasis and and fascioliasis (liver fluke diseases), paragnonimiasis (lung fluke disease), and gnathostomiasis are prevalent in rural areas. Capillariasis and opisthorchiasis are endemic. Anisikiasis is reported (occurs from consuming raw, infected tuna and mackeral). Angiostongyliasis is endemic and is transmitted from raw prawns, fish, land crabs, or shellfish. To prevent these diseases, travelers should avoid eating raw freshwater or saltwater fish and shellfish, wild watercress, and aquatic plants.
Soil-transmitted helminthic infections (hookworm, roundworm, Strongyloides) are prevalent in most rural areas.
Travelers should wear shoes (to prevent the hookworm and Strongyloides larvae from penetrating the skin) and food should be thoroughly washed/cooked (to destroy roundworm eggs).

Hepatitis: Hepatitis A vaccine is recommended for all nonimmune travelers. Hepatitis E is endemic at moderate levels. The hepatitis B carrier rate in the general population is estimated at 13%. Vaccination against hepatitis B should be considered for stays over 3 months and by short-term travelers desiring maximum protection. Travelers should be aware that hepatitis B can be transmitted by unsafe sex and the use of contaminated needles and syringes. Hepatitis C is endemic.

Influenza: Influenza is transmitted year-round in the tropics. The flu vaccine is recommended for all travelers over age 50; all travelers with chronic disease or a weakened immune system; travelers of any age wishing to decrease the risk of this illness; pregnant women after the first trimester.

Japanese Encephalitis (JE): There is year-round risk of JE in rural agricultural areas, with peak transmission during the monsoon season, usually May through November. Highest risk of JE occurs on Luzon and Mindanao, with a high incidence in extreme southern Luzon, Negros, Cebu, and the Catanduanes Island. JE vaccine is recommended for stays of more than 3-4 weeks in rural agricultural (rice-growing, pig-farming) areas, or for repeated shorter visits to endemic areas, especially during the peak transmission season. Travelers should take measures to prevent evening/nighttime mosquito bites.

Malaria: There is year-round risk, countrywide, excluding the islands of Bohol, Catanduanes, Cebu, and Leyte, the plains of the islands of Negros and Panay, and the city of Manila and other urban centers. Risk occurs primarily in the forested foothills and rolling terrain below 1,000 meters elevation in those rural areas rarely visited by tourists. Most malaria transmission occurs during and just after the monsoon season, May through November.
Chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria is common.
Atovaquone/proguanil (Malarone), mefloquine (Lariam), or doxycycline prophylaxis is advised for travelers going to malaria risk areas.

Other Diseases/Hazards: AIDS/HIV (incidence probably higher than officially reported), chikungunya fever (year-round; reported from urban and village areas of central and southern islands), leptospirosis (risk elevated end of monsoon season, peaking early dry season), murine typhus (flea-borne), scrub typhus (mite-borne; risk elevated in grassy rural areas below 3,000 meters elevation on Leyte, Samar, Mindoro, Luzon, Negros, Panay, Palawan, Cebu, and Mindanao), tuberculosis (highly endemic), and typhoid fever.

Poliomyelitis: Three cases of paralytic polio from circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus occurred in 2001. The CDC advises that travelers to the Phillipines be fully immunized against polio.

Rabies: Sporadic cases (about 200 cases/year) of human rabies are reported countrywide. All animal bites or scratches, especially from a dog, should be taken seriously and immediate medical attention sought. Although rabies is rare among tourists—there is risk. No one should pet or pick up any stray animals. All children should be warned to avoid contact with unknown animals.
Rabies vaccine is recommended for travel longer than 3 months, for shorter stays for travelers who plan to venture off the usual tourist routes where they may be more exposed to the stray dog population, or when travelers desire extra protection.

Schistosomiasis: Risk exists year-round, primarily in southern Luzon, Leyte, Samar, Mindanao, and the east coast of Mindoro and Bohol Islands. All travelers to these areas should avoid swimming in freshwater lakes, ponds, or streams.

Travelers' Diarrhea: There is high risk of travelers diarrhea outside of first-class hotels and resorts. A quinolone antibiotic, combined with loperamide (Imodium), is recommended for the treatment of acute diarrhea. Diarrhea not responding to antibiotic treatment may be due to a parasitic disease such as giardiasis, amebiasis, or cryptosporidiosis.

Tuberculosis: Tuberculosis is a major public health problem in this country. Travelers planning an extended stay should have a predeparture TB skin test (PPD test) and be re-rested after leaving this country.