Kinshasa - Post Report Question and Answers
What do people who suffer from environmental or food allergies need to know?
Dust and pollen are the biggest issues for allergies here, bring meds. If you have food allergies make sure you bring with you what you need because options are not available on the local market. - May 2024
You need to be very careful if you have allergies here. The school, TASOK, does a great job informing families if a student has allergies. - Aug 2022
The air can get bad for allergies... but it doesn't last long. Short flowering seasons. - Aug 2019
I don't know of any major allergy concerns. Celiacs or those who prefer to eat gluten free may have some difficulty and will probably have to ship in food. - Apr 2019
It will likely be more problematic here but manageable. - Dec 2017
Have your allergen-free food shipped. Many items are NOT available locally. - Dec 2017
Environmental allergies will be hard to manage unless they respond well to an anti-allergy pill. Dust and smoke are rampant, as are mold and mildew.
Bring what you need to eat with you or plan to ship from Amazon. Some gluten free items available hit or miss. Some non-dairy items available hit or miss. Almond milk was available last year for $15/liter but has recently been unavailable city wide for past few months. Just found it for $23/liter. - Mar 2017
Many local foods are made with peanuts, so if sensitive, I would stick to Western food. - Jan 2017
Probably not a post for you. Air conditioning is a necessary evil, and my kids and I would occasionally have minor respiratory issues as a result. - Sep 2016
Food allergies - bring your epipen. My seasonal allergies haven't been too bad here, but it will depend on what you are allergic to. Bring lots of antihistamines! - Apr 2016
