Antimalarials
Malaria Prevention Advice in Epping and Essex
If you are travelling somewhere with a malaria risk, prevention needs planning before you go, and for some options that means several weeks ahead rather than a few days. We offer pharmacist-led malaria prevention consultations at Theydon Bois Pharmacy, a few minutes from Epping, for travellers across Essex including Loughton, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill. We assess your actual destination and route, not just the country name, and advise on whether preventive medicine is appropriate for you.
Please note: a consultation does not automatically mean medicine will be supplied. Some destinations carry no malaria risk, and in some cases the right outcome is bite prevention advice alone, or a referral to your GP.
What Is Malaria and Why Does Prevention Matter?
Malaria is a serious infection spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. It does not occur in the UK, but UK travellers bring it home every year. According to UKHSA figures on imported malaria in the UK , there were 1,629 imported cases in 2025, of which 1,325 were Plasmodium falciparum, the most severe form. Malaria can be fatal, and it is treatable when caught early.
Most people who become unwell after travelling either took no preventive medicine, took the wrong one for where they went, or stopped the course too early after coming home. That last one comes up more often in our consultations than people expect.
Preventive medicines reduce the risk of malaria. None of them remove it. They work alongside mosquito bite avoidance, not instead of it, which is the same message in the NHS guidance on malaria .
by mosquito bites.
Do I Need Malaria Prevention for My Trip?
There is no single answer, and this is the part most travellers get wrong. It depends on:
Where exactly
you are going
Risk often varies within a country, not only between countries.
The time
of year
Risk rises in the rainy season in many regions.
How long you
are staying
The length of your stay can affect the advice given.
City, rural area
or accommodation
Where you stay and the type of accommodation can affect risk.
Your age,
health & medicines
Your age, general health and any medicines you already take all matter.
A recent example from our clinic
Two travellers came in the same week, both going to Thailand. One was spending ten days in Bangkok and Phuket and needed no preventive medicine at all. The other was trekking near a border region and did. Same country, completely different advice.
We check your itinerary against the country-by-country malaria risk information published by NaTHNaC on TravelHealthPro , and we work to the UK malaria prevention guidelines for travellers issued by UKHSA , which are reviewed and reissued each year by the UK Malaria Expert Advisory Group.
You are welcome to look your own destination up before you come in.
How Does the Consultation Work?
It is a conversation with a pharmacist, usually 15 to 20 minutes, booked online or by phone. We cover the details that matter for your destination, health and travel plans.
Your destination, your route within the country, and your travel dates
Your general health and relevant medical history
Your current medicines and any allergies, so interactions can be checked
Whether preventive medicine is clinically appropriate for your trip, and what the options are
How to take any medicine correctly, including when to start and when to stop
Mosquito bite avoidance, which matters as much as any tablet
What to do if you feel unwell during or after your trip
What Happens If Preventive Medicine Is Appropriate?
Where preventive medicine is appropriate, some options can be supplied directly by the pharmacy and others require a prescription following assessment. We will explain which applies to you, and what it costs, before anything is supplied. Malaria prevention is not funded by the NHS, so this is a private service.
We can check your wider travel vaccination needs in the same appointment, which saves you a second visit.
When Should I Book?
Four to six weeks before you travel is the sensible target. Preventive medicines differ: some are started one to two days before departure, others need starting two to three weeks beforehand so tolerance can be assessed.
4–6 Weeks Before
Book your consultation early so there is enough time to consider the available options.
2–3 Weeks Before
Some medicines need starting two to three weeks beforehand so tolerance can be assessed.
1–2 Days Before
Some preventive medicines are started one to two days before departure.
After You Return
Continue the course for either one week or four weeks depending on which medicine is used.
Why Should You Book Early?
Leaving it late can rule out an option that would otherwise have suited you. The parasite can still be incubating when you land, and stopping early is one of the most common reasons travellers become unwell weeks after returning.
If Your Trip Is Coming Up Quickly
If your trip has come up quickly, book anyway. There are usually still options, and bite avoidance advice is worth having either way. The NaTHNaC malaria factsheet sets this out in detail, and we will write your exact start and finish dates down for you.
Advice for Different Travellers
What suited someone else may not suit you. We see:
Families with children
Options depend on age, weight and destination, and we will go through what is appropriate.
People who are pregnant or planning pregnancy
Some medicines are not suitable, and timing can matter. We will talk through the safest options.
Travellers with existing health conditions
We check for interactions with your current medicines and take account of relevant medical history.
Older travellers
A different approach may be needed depending on your overall health and medicines.
Long stay and frequent travellers
We look at repeated travel, cumulative exposure and practicalities such as repeat supplies.
Business travellers
Even short trips can carry risk depending on where you are going.
Preventing Mosquito Bites
The mosquito that carries malaria bites between dusk and dawn, so evening and overnight protection is where the effort belongs. This applies whether or not you are taking preventive medicine. The NaTHNaC guidance on insect and tick bite avoidance is the standard UK advice, and it comes down to a few things:
Use an insect repellent
Use an insect repellent containing 50% DEET on exposed skin, and reapply after swimming or sweating.
Apply sunscreen first
Apply sunscreen first, then repellent over the top.
Cover up from dusk
Cover up with long sleeves and trousers from dusk onwards.
Sleep under a mosquito net
Sleep under an insecticide-treated mosquito net if your room is not air conditioned or screened.
Keep windows and doors screened
Keep windows and doors closed or screened after dark.
We stock repellent, bite relief and treated nets, so you can pick these up at the same appointment.
Feeling Unwell During or After Travel
This is the most important section on this page. Any fever, flu-like illness, headache, chills or sweats during your trip, or within a year of returning from a malaria risk area, should be treated as possible malaria until a test says otherwise. Most cases appear within the first three months.
Contact your GP or use NHS 111 online the same day, and tell them exactly where you travelled and when. If you are seriously unwell, call 999 or go to A&E. Do not wait to see if it settles.
Tell the healthcare professional exactly where you travelled and when.
As the NHS malaria page makes clear, malaria is treatable when caught early and dangerous when it is not, and this applies even if you took preventive medicine correctly.
Why Theydon Bois Pharmacy?
We are an independent, family run pharmacy that has served this community for more than 50 years, at 10 Forest Drive in Theydon Bois, within reach of Epping, Loughton, Chigwell, Buckhurst Hill and the wider Essex area.
Our travel service is pharmacist led throughout and follows the UK malaria prevention guidelines issued by UKHSA. Both NHS and private services run under one roof, and appointments are often available at short notice, which matters when travel dates are already fixed. We do not supply preventive medicine on request: every supply follows a clinical assessment, in line with antimicrobial stewardship and our professional obligations under the GPhC standards for registered pharmacies.
Book a travel health consultation
Frequently Asked Questions
Find clear answers to common questions about malaria prevention, travel health consultations and preventive treatment.
Before Your Consultation
01 Do I need malaria prevention for every country? + −
No. Risk varies enormously, sometimes between regions of the same country, and many destinations carry no risk at all. Checking your actual route beats going on the country name.
02 How much does it cost? + −
There is a consultation fee, and where medicine is appropriate it is priced per course, since the length of the course follows your travel dates. We give you the full cost before anything is supplied. Malaria prevention is not available on the NHS, so this is a private service.
03 How long before travel should I book? + −
Four to six weeks ahead is ideal, because some options need starting two to three weeks before departure and travel vaccinations often need a similar run-up. If your trip is sooner than that, book anyway.
04 Can children be seen? + −
Yes. The appropriate medicine and dose depend on age and weight, and not every option is licensed for younger children, so children are always assessed individually.
During Your Travel Health Assessment
05 Do I need to see my GP first? + −
Not usually. We can assess you here and, where appropriate, arrange supply. If your health history means you need input from your GP or a specialist travel clinic, we will tell you and explain why.
06 What are the side effects? + −
They differ depending on which medicine is appropriate for you, and we go through the specific side effects, cautions and what to do about them during your consultation. The NHS malaria page also covers general information on preventive treatment.
07 Will I definitely be given medicine at the appointment? + −
No. The consultation may conclude that your destination carries no malaria risk, that bite prevention alone is appropriate, or that you need referral elsewhere. The fee covers the clinical assessment and advice.
08 Do I still need vaccinations if I am taking malaria prevention? + −
Almost certainly. There is no routine malaria vaccine for UK travellers, and preventive tablets protect against nothing else. We check your full travel vaccination needs in the same appointment.