The Sunday News
THE country is on alert for a possible resurgence of malaria outbreaks following a sharp rise in malaria cases and deaths in the first seven months of the year, compared to the same period last year.
A Ministry of Health and Child Care official last week told Sunday News that more than 500 000 cases of malaria had been recorded countrywide since January this year, which is about seven percent higher than the total number of cases recorded in the whole of last year.
Programme manager of the malaria control unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Joseph Mberikunashe said over 500 people had been killed by malaria so far, compared to about 300 who succumbed to the disease in the same period last year.
Data from the health ministry show that Manicaland has recorded the highest number of malaria cases, accounting for about 39 percent of the total number of cases recorded so far this year.
Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East have the second and third highest malaria incidences respectively so far this year, and combined with Manicaland, the three provinces account for about 86 percent of the total number of cases recorded in the first seven months of this year.
“We have already surpassed the number of cases recorded in the whole of last year by about seven percent yet the year has not even ended. This means we are going to have more cases of malaria this year, compared to last year.
“It shows that we are in danger and a resurgence is possible, especially in areas where the environment is conducive like in Manicaland,” he said.
Dr Mberikunashe attributed the upsurge in malaria cases to a number of factors, among them the sharp climatic and weather pattern changes as a result of global warming.
He said the increase in malaria incidence was not peculiar to Zimbabwe, but was a regional issue as other countries in the Sadc region had also witnessed increased malaria incidence.
“I think the increase has mainly to do with climatic changes. We received more rains last year compared to previous years which might explain the increase in malaria cases.
“The whole of the Sadc region has experienced a similar problem mainly because of the increased rains we received last year.
“Massive movement of people from high transmission areas like Mozambique and Tanzania has also seen an increase in cases. Of late there has been a lot of interaction between Zimbabwe and the two countries,” said Dr Mberikunashe.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Health and Child Care warned of a possible malaria outbreak resurgence, citing cases of the disease that had been reported in traditionally malaria-free zones, such as Goromonzi, as evidence of a possible resurgence.
Dr Mberikunashe revealed that the country had witnessed an increase in malaria incidence between 2012 and 2013, adding that the Ministry of Health and Child Care was targeting to reduce malaria deaths from 22 per 1 000 people per year, to one per thousand by 2017.
At the turn of the millennium the country used to record up to two million cases of malaria every year with about 5 000 deaths but the cases have since fallen to below half a million per year with about 350 deaths yearly, in recent years.
Dr Mberikunashe said his department was on alert for a possible outbreak and 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.
“We are strengthening what we call entomological surveillance, keeping our eye and ear open. We have 16 vector bynomic centinal sites, two in each of the eight rural provinces. Here we will be identifying culprit mosquitoes, breed them and study their behaviour. If we notice any changes in how they respond to our sprays we then inform the programme to change tactics and pesticides.
“This is what we are doing to make sure that we do not have another resurgence. We also need to scale up on sensitisation of our stakeholders and communities so that they can also buy into the activities aware of what they can do and what is available to improve uptake of our activities,” he said.
Zimbabwe is also part of a vibrant cross-border malaria intervention programme in collaboration with neighbouring countries.
The TransZambezi co-operation which includes Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana, and the Mozisa programme which includes Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa are some of the main cross border collaborations the country is part of.
Last year 326 people died from malaria while 386 505 cases were reported countrywide throughout the year.
Malaria is caused by a type of mosquito known as Anopheles.
