Sierra Leone requires the yellow fever card. Malaria advice covers Freetown and the beaches.
- Travel clinic CDC recommends medicine or vaccines for some areas · which ones
- No CDC travel notice for mosquito-borne disease
CDC lists Sierra Leone's entry rule as "Vaccine is required for all travelers," and it recommends malaria prevention medicine for every part of the country, from Aberdeen and Lumley to River No. 2 and Tiwai Island. WHO's Africa office reported a single dengue case in 2026, in Freetown in March.
Are there mosquitoes in Sierra Leone? Yes, in every month, and the CDC recommends malaria prevention medicine for the whole country, Freetown, the peninsula beaches and Tiwai Island included. Sierra Leone also requires proof of yellow fever vaccination at entry, so the yellow certificate travels with your passport whether you're home to see family, on an aid or business trip, or headed for River No. 2.
The yellow fever rule and the clinic visit
Sierra Leone's rule applies on a direct flight from the US, and CDC's wording names no minimum age, unlike its recommendation for travelers 9 months and older. If you're traveling with a baby, ask the travel clinic and Sierra Leone's embassy how the rule applies. Yellow fever itself is quiet, with no confirmed cases in WHO's 2025 global table.
What we suggest you do with this: the CDC recommends malaria medicine for all areas of Sierra Leone, and its yellow fever recommendation is "Vaccine is recommended for all travelers ≥9 months old." CDC gives Sierra Leone's entry requirement as "Vaccine is required for all travelers," so proof is required from all arriving travelers. Book a travel-medicine appointment 4–6 weeks before departure, and pack the yellow certificate with your passport as soon as you have it. Our malaria-zone checklist covers everything around the prescription.
Malaria after dark, from Aberdeen to Tiwai
The CDC's wording is "CDC recommends that travelers going to Sierra Leone take prescription medicine to prevent malaria." Transmission occurs in all areas, mostly chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum, with no exception for Freetown, the beaches or the dry season. Going home to see family doesn't change the advice, and those visits are where malaria most often catches travelers out. CDC notes that travelers visiting friends and relatives are at higher risk of malaria because they often skip prevention medicine.
Malaria mosquitoes bite from dusk to dawn. Put repellent on at sunset, wear long sleeves in the evening and sleep in an air-conditioned or screened room, or under a treated bed net where the room is open to the outdoors. Beach lodges near river mouths and lagoons, and the forest camp on Tiwai Island, are the likeliest places for evening bites.
One dengue case, and the other risks
WHO's Africa office reported one confirmed dengue case in 2026, a 41-year-old nurse admitted to Connaught Hospital in Freetown who died in March. No further cases were reported in that event. The case fell in the dry season, and the Aedes mosquitoes that spread dengue bite in daylight, so a morning coat of repellent belongs in every month; our dengue & Zika routine has the schedule.
CDC also lists Lassa fever, caught from food or air contaminated by infected rats, and WHO's Africa office reported cases, mostly in Kenema District, in early 2025 and a fatal case in Bonthe District in March 2026, so keep food sealed. After heavy rain, stay out of fresh water, mud and floodwater (schistosomiasis, leptospirosis and melioidosis).
When to go
The rains run roughly May to October and peak in July and August, when Freetown tends to get torrential downpours and bites tend to be worst. The dry season, roughly November to April and especially December to February, tends to bring the fewest mosquitoes. Malaria medicine and the yellow fever certificate apply in every month.
Where you're going
Freetown: Aberdeen, Lumley & Hill Station
Inside the CDC's malaria advice with no city exception, from an Aberdeen beach hotel to a family home at Hill Station. The one dengue case of 2026 was admitted to Connaught Hospital, so keep a daytime repellent habit too.
Peninsula beaches: River No. 2, Tokeh, Bureh, Lakka & John Obey
South of Freetown and under the same malaria advice. River mouths and lagoons behind several beaches are likely to hold mosquitoes at dusk, so spray before sunset drinks.
Tiwai Island
A rainforest sanctuary on an island in the Moa River, usually reached via Bo or Kenema. Malaria advice applies, a treated net suits nights in the forest camp, and bites are likely heavier in the rains.
Heading on overland? Our Liberia and Guinea briefings cover their own yellow fever rules.
The Sierra Leone kit
- Picaridin 20% travel sprays: odorless in the humidity and quick to reapply at sunset.
- Permethrin 0.5% for evening clothes, applied at home 48 hours before you fly. It goes on clothing, never skin.
- A treated travel bed net for a forest camp or a room without screens or air conditioning.
One more rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or after your trip means a doctor visit, and you tell them you were in Sierra Leone. That holds for a year after you get home.
Traveler questions
Do I need a yellow fever vaccine for Sierra Leone?
Sierra Leone requires proof of it. CDC's recommendation is "Vaccine is recommended for all travelers ≥9 months old," and it gives the entry requirement as "Vaccine is required for all travelers." That applies on a direct flight from the US, so carry the yellow certificate with your passport. The entry wording names no minimum age, so if you're traveling with a baby, ask the travel clinic and Sierra Leone's embassy how it applies. Book the clinic 4–6 weeks before you fly.
Do I need malaria pills if I'm visiting family in Freetown?
The CDC recommends malaria prevention medicine for all of Sierra Leone, with no exception for Freetown, the beaches or the dry season, so a family home falls under the same advice as a hotel. CDC notes that travelers visiting friends and relatives are at higher risk of malaria because they often skip prevention medicine. Which medicine fits you is a call for a travel clinic, made 4–6 weeks before departure. Our malaria-zone checklist covers the rest of the preparation.
Is there dengue in Sierra Leone?
The CDC's Sierra Leone page lists it, and Sierra Leone isn't on the CDC's Global Dengue list. WHO's Africa office reported one confirmed case in 2026, a nurse in Freetown who died in March, with no further cases in that event. The mosquito that spreads dengue bites in daylight, so repellent goes on in the morning as well as at sunset.
Are the peninsula beaches buggy?
Traveler reports are scarce. River mouths and lagoons sit behind several beaches, including River No. 2, Tokeh and Bureh, and they are likely to hold mosquitoes at dusk. Spray before sunset, wear long sleeves for dinner and pick a screened or air-conditioned room, or one with a bed net.
Sources
Health authorities, surveillance reports and news coverage of official bulletins used for this briefing, last checked October 2026. Traveler reports are linked where they appear. This page summarizes public-health guidance and is not medical advice.
- CDC destination page for travelers
- CDC Travel Health Notice
- World Health Organization
- World Health Organization
- World Health Organization
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
- World Health Organization
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
- CDC Travelers' Health
- World Health Organization
- World Health Organization
- World Health Organization
- World Health Organization