Volunteer Life in Togo

Staying Healthy in Togo

Togo is a warm (OK, hot) country with primary health problems that can often be preventable for volunteers. The most common health problems you will encounter while in Togo include wound and skin infections, diarrheal disease, respiratory illness during Harmattan (wind that blows dust from the Sahara in January and February). Every country has its own indigenous microbes which don't affect the native population and people that have grown up here with them. However, when a newcomer arrives without immunity, the body is susceptible to any organisms that invade it. Since most of you come from a climate and culture very different from those of Togo, you can expect adjustment to take the form of temporary but uncomfortable illnesses. It will happen to you all periodically. With time and adjustment to this different environment, your good health will reassert itself.

Here are a few things that place stress on your body

Safety and Security

AMany Volunteers from neighboring countries include Togo in their vacation plans. Peace Corps/Togo welcomes visiting Volunteers, as Togo has many African sites and sounds to experience and good food to taste in a West African atmosphere (especially, ice cream). Thus, to ensure that your stay here in Togo is a safe and pleasant one, PC/Togo staff requests that all visitors take personal responsibility for their personal health/safety while vacationing in Togo. The following guidelines have been developed to assist you in making your stay here in Togo and/or Lomé as enjoyable as possible.

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Thank you [Togo and PC staff] again for contributing to the most valuable experience of my life.Mitch Bloom, Togo CHAP 2008-2010

I entered Peace Corps full of boyish idealism. I returned both physically (15 pounds heavier) and mentally changed. Service is in my blood now thanks to my time in Togo. Andrew Landis, Togo SED RPCV 2008 - 2010