Hospital infrastructure in Mancora:
A small hospital or rural health clinic provides assistance in basic health, both for tourists and natives.
There are a couple of private clinics that provide a more specialized service for bigger emergencies, the best is to go to the cities of Talara, Tumbes or better still Piura (such as to the San Miguel clinic), which offer a better service with more and better infrastructure.
Diseases / health:
In some media and international tourist guides Mancora and its surroundings are erroneously listed as “yellow fever” or “malaria” zones. We have no records of this type of diseases here on Peru’s northern coast in recent years.
Common diseases in tourists are mild poisonings and stomach sickness, which you can get anywhere in South America, for several different reasons and are usually quite easy to heal.
Mosquitoes usually appear in summer and part of winter. We recommend then to use mosquito repellant in cream to prevent mosquitoes’ bites. There are certain mosquitoes that produce diseases as “classic dengue” which occurs in certain situations of special climate. Statistically this insect bite is of very low incidence among tourists here in Mancora as well as in nearby beaches. The disease lasts for 3 or 4 days, with nauseas, fever and without secondary effects.
Another factor to consider is the sun and skin burns. We recommend the use of sunscreen permanently.
Pharmacies / Medicinea at Mancora and beaches nearby:
Currently there is a big amount of pharmacies in Mancora. Many of them are branches of pharmacies working across Peru, with a good assortment of medicines, diapers, sunscreens, etc..
To visit Mancora we reccommend:
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Don’t take tap water in Mancora nor in nearby beaches. Buy bottled water. Pura Vida is a local bottled water company, with very good prices when you buy directly from their plant.
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Sunscreen during the day. For the evening and night mosquito repellent or lotion. Avoid food places which don´t have minimum hygiene measures.
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If mosquitoes don´t let you sleep, we recommend mosquito repellent tablets or “spirals” to scare away the annoying insects. Both products are sold in Mancora and/or nearby beaches.