Manicaland records 27pc malaria deaths

28 Jun, 2019 - 00:06 0 Views
Manicaland records 27pc malaria deaths Manicaland Province accounted for one third of the nationwide cumulative total of reported malaria cases

The ManicaPost

Tendai Gukutikwa
THE malaria burden continues to be heavy in districts that share borders with Mozambique and Manicaland recorded 27,1 percent of all malaria deaths that occurred in 2018, the Ministry of Health and Child Care has revealed.

In total the country had 192 malaria deaths in 2018 and 52 were recorded in Manicaland. Among other among other districts along the Mozambique border Chipinge, Chimanimani, Mutasa, Nyanga are red zone marked malaria risk zones.

National Malaria Control Programme director, Dr Joseph Mberikunashe revealed this at the Annual Malaria Conference which was held on Wednesday at a Mutare hotel.

He said while Manicaland might be viewed as the only malaria risk zone, Matabeleland North which borders with Zambia is an equal risk zone as the two provinces had the highest proportion of cases detected in 2018.

“More than 50 percent of the Zimbabwean population reside in malaria risk areas making malaria a priority disease for elimination and our goal is to reduce malaria incidences to 5 per 1000 population and malaria deaths by at least 90 percent by 2020,” said Dr Mberikunashe.

While 52 malaria deaths were reported in Manicaland the whole of 2018, during the January to May period in 2019 yet 52 malaria deaths have already been reported. Nationally 154 deaths have already been reported already while 194 deaths were reported in 2018.

Meanwhile, Dr Mberikunashe said a good number of malaria cases were contracted by travellers and that 32 percent of those cases had been after travelling outside the country.

“Out of 520 cases that had destinations outside Zimbabwe captured, at least 36 percent of the destinations were within South Africa which is a major trade partner and source of employment,” said Dr Mberikunashe.

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