Expat insurance and health insurance in Burkina Faso

The Burkinabe healthcare system is organised as a three-tier pyramid: national directorates in Ouagadougou set health policy, 13 regional directorates form the intermediate level, and 63 health districts form the base. The tertiary level comprises three university hospitals, two of them in Ouagadougou — the CHU Yalgado Ouédraogo (CHU-YO) and the CHU pediatric hospital Charles de Gaulle — and one in Bobo-Dioulasso, CHU Sourô Sanou. The secondary level comprises 9 regional hospitals and 63 district hospitals, and the primary level around 1,500 health and social promotion centres (CSPS). The country suffers from a critical shortage of qualified staff, with fewer than one doctor per 10,000 inhabitants according to available data. France Diplomatie strongly advises against travelling with young children or people with health problems, due to “extremely limited emergency care options in Burkina Faso”; most medicines are available in Ouagadougou but hard to find in rural areas. Given the lack of adequate technical facilities for serious cases, medical evacuation to a better-equipped country remains standard practice.

• Mandatory visa before departure: online e-visa via www.visaburkina.bf (available since February 2023) or application at the Burkina Faso consulate in Paris (submissions Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am to noon, collection within 72 working hours).
• Passport valid for at least 6 months from the departure date. Since April 2026, immigration formalities must also be completed online via the official “fiche voyage” platform (fichedevoyage.gov.bf).
• Mandatory yellow fever vaccination, to be carried out at an approved centre; the vaccination certificate may be requested at the border.
• No health insurance formally required for the visa or entry, but France Diplomatie states that it is essential to have an assistance contract or insurance covering all medical costs, surgery, hospitalisation and medical repatriation, as the embassy cannot cover any of these costs.
• Vaccinations recommended depending on exposure: hepatitis A, typhoid fever, meningitis ACWY (particularly in the dry season), tuberculosis (children under 15, extended stays), hepatitis B (frequent or extended stays), rabies (young children, rural areas), chikungunya, dengue and Mpox depending on the epidemic situation.
• Malaria: medical consultation before departure for suitable chemoprophylaxis; meningococcal meningitis is endemic, with annual epidemics between January and June.
• CFE recommended in addition to private insurance, with a subsidised category available on consular application for low-income households.

Security situation, covered here solely from the angle of access to care: France Diplomatie formally advises against travel to the entire Burkinabe territory, due to security incidents and recurring unrest. Movement bans, checkpoints held by security forces and curfew measures are in force; travelling at night is particularly dangerous. The outskirts of Ouagadougou, classified forests, national parks and wildlife reserves, border regions (Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire), as well as the surroundings of public buildings and military installations, are explicitly flagged as dangerous, with the risk of kidnapping and homicide described as “very high” in the northern, eastern, western and south-western outlying areas. These combined restrictions significantly compromise the ability to carry out emergency medical evacuation outside Ouagadougou, which further reinforces the essential nature of insurance explicitly covering this risk.

Unlike several neighbouring or nearby countries (Mali, Togo, Benin, Senegal, Niger, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo...), Burkina Faso does not appear on any official list of countries that have signed a social security agreement with France: it is absent both from the CLEISS FAQ listing agreements in force and from the list of agreement texts published on the CLEISS website.

• No social security coordination between France and Burkina Faso, whether for sickness-maternity, the opening of rights through the aggregation of insurance periods, old age, invalidity, family benefits or occupational accidents / diseases.
• No reimbursement of care received in Burkina Faso is therefore possible through French health insurance by this route.
• A seconded or expatriate employee in Burkina Faso therefore cannot rely on any agreement-based mechanism for their care coverage or the opening of their social rights: turning to the CFE or to private international insurance is the only option.

• Before departure: yellow fever vaccination at an approved centre, passport valid for at least 6 months, e-visa application via visaburkina.bf or at the Burkina Faso consulate in Paris, and an assistance contract covering hospitalisation, surgery and medical repatriation / evacuation.
• Since April 2026: complete immigration formalities online via the official “fiche voyage” platform (fichedevoyage.gov.bf) before arrival.
• Before any trip: check France Diplomatie’s regularly updated travel advice, as the entire territory is formally advised against.
• On arrival: registration recommended with the roll of French nationals living abroad (consulate in Ouagadougou).
• Voluntary CFE registration recommended, as no Franco-Burkinabe agreement exists to coordinate health cover.