The Sunday News
Sunday News Reporter
AT least nine people died of malaria countrywide in one week out of 2 645 cases that were reported, as cases of the disease continue to increase, statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care show.According to a Week 43 disease surveillance report by the health ministry, Manicaland province recorded the highest number of deaths with three people having succumbed to malaria.
Mashonaland East province recorded two deaths, the same number as Masvingo, while Midlands province and Harare metropolitan province recorded a death each.
The report also shows that Manicaland had recorded the highest number of malaria cases in the week in question, 1 212 cases, almost half of the total number of cases recorded in week 43 nationwide.
Of the total number of cases reported, 485 and one death were children under the age of five years.
Head of the Epidemiology and Disease Control department in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Portia Manangazira said the country would remain on alert for a possible resurgence of malaria in light of the increase of cases this year compared to last year.
The weekly report shows that so far 496 495 cases of Malaria had been recorded countrywide since January this year, which is more than the total number of cases recorded in the whole of last year.
At least 667 people have died of Malaria so far this year, almost double the 326 deaths that were recorded in the whole of last year.
Data from the health ministry shows that Manicaland has recorded the highest number of malaria cases, accounting for about 40 percent of the total number of cases recorded so far this year.
“We have already recorded more cases this year compared to the whole of last year and that is not a good sign. It shows us that there is still more work that needs to be done to contain the disease.
“Yes we might be in danger of a possible resurgence, especially in malaria prone areas like Manicaland and Mashonaland Central where most cases were recorded this year. This means that as a country we have to be on high alert,” she said.
Dr Manangazira said the increase in malaria cases was due to a cocktail of factors, including changes in climate and weather patterns.
She also pointed out movement of people from areas of high malaria transmission as one of the causes of increased incidence of the disease in the country.
“There is a lot of interaction between Zimbabwe and other countries where the disease incidence is high. We refer to such countries as high transmission areas. Of late there has been a lot of movement of people between Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Tanzania. Those two countries are high transmission zones and that has also contributed to the increase in cases of the disease locally,” she said.
Dr Manangazira said her ministry had put in place a raft of measures to prevent resurgence of malaria and reduce the number of deaths caused by the disease.
Some of the critical measures that the National Malaria Control Unit has adopted include surveillance of malaria-causing mosquitoes and control activities in malaria prone areas.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care is targeting to reduce malaria deaths from 22 per 1 000 people per year, to one per 1 000 by 2017.
In the early 2000s the country used to record up to two million cases of malaria every year and an average of about 5 000 deaths but in recent years the cases have since fallen to below half a million per year and about 350 deaths.
