The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
“MALARIA is so prevalent in this region that I consider the area scarcely fit for human habitation. The air is so poor, and the climate is so bad that I believe any settlement based here shall be doomed to fail as the inhabitants are constantly beset by fever and lethargy.”
Of all the places, this is a quote about Washington DC, the capital city of United States of America, way back at a time when the debate whether the capital city should be placed in the area it is today.
The statement was said before humankind had established what caused malaria.
Last week on Friday, the United States of America’s acting Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Thomas Hasting recited the same quotation as his entry point to his keynote address during the official launch of the Africa University Malaria Research and Reference Insectary.
Mr Hasting said the path to eradication of malaria was not futile, given similar experiences in the United States of America.
“Many people are not aware that United States of America also fought against malaria. This is not known to many in Africa, and it is not known to many even in the United States of America.
“But malaria was prevalent in the United States of America. It was not eradicated until the 1950s. In fact, the Centre for Disease Control was established or grew up out of an institution that was established primarily to fight malaria domestically.
“I bring it up to make my first point that we have been through this ourselves, and we are in this together. We have also fought malaria in our country. We have achieved eradication which is easier in America than in Africa for many reasons.
“We have achieved it through some of the same interventions that are being used here including drainage, use of insecticides, eliminating breeding areas for mosquitoes and so on.
“There are other interventions that are being used around the world that were not availed to us in the 20th century. But this is achievable. Having achieved it in the United States, we are now partnering with other countries and institutions like Africa University in the fight against malaria.
“The Presidential Malaria Initiative has $163 million to prevent and treat malaria in Zimbabwe, and during that time, we have seen a 58 percent drop in cases. But we know we are not yet done,” said Mr Hastings.
The United Methodist Church-run Africa University has established the Malaria Research and Reference Insectary with the financial assistance of the United States of America through its development agency USAID.
Using multiple samples of mosquitoes collected from different areas around the country, studying their resistance to insecticides and general behaviour, the facility will partake in research on the spread of malaria and apt interventions.
In his speech during the official launch of the Insectary, Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development chief director, Mr Jacob Gonese reaffirmed Government’s commitment to research, technology upgrading and innovation.
“Zimbabwe continues to make huge strides in the field of research and innovation. In this regard, Government devised National Development Strategy (NDS1) to guide Zimbabwe to a upper middle income economy by 2030.
“In order to achieve this vision, the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development has drafted a raft of measures to reform and realign the higher education sector in order to migrate from a highly consumptive nation to more productive community.
“We want to congratulate Africa University for the establishment of this research and reference Insectary as it dovetails into Government’s vision,” he said.
In a separate speech, Africa University Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Peter Mageto bemoaned the human life cost emanating from malaria.
“This Insectary Unit is a result of several years of productive partnership among the partners whose singular mission has been, and is, to conquer malaria and eradicate it from our continent. Since the inception of our partnership in2017, Africa University has been committed to mosquito surveillance information for malaria control operations in complementing and enhancing the research being done at the National Institute of Research.
“The Research and Reference Insectary that we are commissioning will not only enable us to scale up critical surveillance information, but will also be a powerful asset to the country and province, serving as an educational hub to home grown innovations and solutions to flourish in line with our parent ministry’s thrust towards the attainment of Education 5.0,” said Professor Mageto.
