Malaria is present in 10 of Namibia's 14 regions, all in the north and east. Windhoek, which lies in the Khomas region, has no transmission according to the US CDC, and the coastal and southern regions are not on either official list.
Which regions of Namibia have malaria?
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the UK's TravelHealthPro service (run by the UK Health Security Agency) name the same ten regions. The UK service adds a seasonal split.
| Regions | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| Zambezi (including Caprivi), Kavango East, Kavango West | TravelHealthPro: high risk all year. CDC: malaria present, prevention medicines listed. |
| Kunene, Omusati, Oshana, Ohangwena, Oshikoto, Omaheke, Otjozondjupa | TravelHealthPro: high risk from December to April, low risk from May to November. CDC: malaria present, prevention medicines listed, no seasons given. |
| Erongo, Hardap, Karas, Khomas | Not on either list. TravelHealthPro: very low risk in the rest of the country. CDC: transmission rare elsewhere, none in Windhoek. |
The CDC page is marked as updated on 23 April 2025. The TravelHealthPro page shows no update date.
What about the places on a self-drive route?
- Windhoek: the CDC states there is no malaria transmission in the capital.
- Swakopmund and Walvis Bay are in the Erongo region, Sesriem and Sossusvlei in Hardap, and the far south (Fish River Canyon, Lüderitz) in Karas. None of these four regions is on either official list. The link between these places and their regions is our own, from geography, not from the health sources.
- Etosha: the park covers parts of several northern regions that are on both lists (secondary sources name Oshikoto, Oshana, Omusati, Kunene and Otjozondjupa). Neither the CDC nor TravelHealthPro names the park itself, so there is no official park-specific answer to quote. A travel clinic can advise for your dates.
Is there a malaria season?
TravelHealthPro separates a high-risk period from December to April from a low-risk period from May to November in seven regions, and gives no such split for Zambezi and the two Kavango regions, where risk is high all year. The CDC page does not give seasons.
The 2026 situation is not quiet. Xinhua reported on 2 September 2026, citing Health Minister Esperance Luvindao, that Namibia had recorded 122,612 confirmed cases and 122 deaths since the start of the year, that malaria “remains stubbornly endemic in 10 out of the 14 regions”, and that 81 percent of cases were local. We could not find the Ministry's own release.
What do the official sources recommend?
For the regions in the table's first two rows the CDC lists four prescription options for prevention (atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline, mefloquine or tafenoquine) and TravelHealthPro lists three (atovaquone/proguanil, doxycycline or mefloquine). For other areas with transmission the CDC advises insect bite precautions only. The main parasite is Plasmodium falciparum, and the CDC records documented resistance to chloroquine.
Which medicine suits you, from what date, and whether you need any at all for a route that stays in Khomas, Erongo, Hardap and Karas is a decision for a doctor or travel clinic. This page does not give doses.
Where the sources differ
The CDC lists prevention medicines for all ten regions and gives no season. TravelHealthPro lists them for Zambezi and the two Kavango regions all year, but for the other seven only from December to April, and asks for bite awareness from May to November. Both agree on the list of regions and on the low risk elsewhere. We do not pick one over the other.
Planning a self-drive route that reaches the north? See Etosha entry fees and gate hours and the notes on licences, insurance and what to do after a crash.
What we could not confirm
- A Ministry of Health and Social Services release or risk map for 2026: we only found the minister's figures as reported by Xinhua.
- The WHO country page was not checked.
- Any official statement on risk inside Etosha, or inside a region such as Otjozondjupa at the level of individual lodges.
- Vaccination requirements (for example yellow fever) are outside this page.
This page summarises published guidance and is not medical advice.