News / Health
Manicaland records highest number of malaria cases
07 Nov 2013 at 19:53hrs | Views
MANICALAND has recorded the highest number of malaria cases this year contributing 51 percent of the national figures, a senior Government official has said.
Addressing health personnel drawn from across the country at the National Malaria Conference held in Mutare this week, the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Paul Chimedza, said a total of 377 892 malaria cases were reported in the country, 85 percent of these were from Manicaland, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East.
"Furthermore 51 percent (192 730) of the cases seen throughout the country have all been recorded from Manicaland province alone.
"As far as mortality is concerned, a total of 351 deaths have been recorded to date, with the same three provinces accounting for 60 percent (210) of the deaths, again Manicaland alone accounts for 34 percent of national malaria deaths," he said.
Dr Chimedza said areas along the border were now the hardest hit.
"We have also seen the burden of the disease rapidly reducing from the central parts of the country, with most of the burden remaining heavy in the border districts such as Nyanga, Mutasa, Mutare, Chimanimani and Chipinge (Manicaland); Mudzi, Mutoko and UMP (Mash East); Mt Darwin, Rushinga, Centenary and Mbire (Mash Central); Hurungwe and Kariba (Mash West) and Binga and Hwange (Mat North).
"The 2013 conference will look back at what we have done over the past year against what we had planned to do since the last conference in 2012 and strategise on how best to move forward to achieve our goals. We will need to be open with each other, look at ourselves critically and accept responsibility where we have not done well and adjust our approach to the work at hand going forward
"We have a long history of malaria prevention and control in the country and I am informed that some countries in the sub-region have actually come to Zimbabwe to learn about IRS, case management and other interventions.
"I believe it is through implementation of the WHO-recommended standard and effective malaria control interventions and the good partner collaboration that we have achieved the milestones that we have seen today," he said.
Manicaland provincial medical director Dr Simon Nyadundu expressed hope that the province will soldier on and reduce malaria cases.
"It is our hope that after this conference people will come up with strategies to minimise the prevalence of malaria. At the moment we are spraying heavily infested areas in the worst hit districts. Other interventions like mosquito nets and treatment are active.
"We also want to prevent pregnant women from falling sick by encouraging them to use intermittent presumptive medicines because we have high maternal mortality in the province," he said.
The National Malaria Control Programme manager, Dr Joseph Mberikunashe, said it made sense to the ministry to hold this year's conference in Manicaland so that people understood better the high prevalence rate in the province.
"We realised that we have some goals to achieve and thus if we don't deal with this province that is contributing much, we won't make it. We want to hear the story from this side so that we effectively devise ways to reduce the prevalence," he said.
Addressing health personnel drawn from across the country at the National Malaria Conference held in Mutare this week, the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Paul Chimedza, said a total of 377 892 malaria cases were reported in the country, 85 percent of these were from Manicaland, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East.
"Furthermore 51 percent (192 730) of the cases seen throughout the country have all been recorded from Manicaland province alone.
"As far as mortality is concerned, a total of 351 deaths have been recorded to date, with the same three provinces accounting for 60 percent (210) of the deaths, again Manicaland alone accounts for 34 percent of national malaria deaths," he said.
Dr Chimedza said areas along the border were now the hardest hit.
"We have also seen the burden of the disease rapidly reducing from the central parts of the country, with most of the burden remaining heavy in the border districts such as Nyanga, Mutasa, Mutare, Chimanimani and Chipinge (Manicaland); Mudzi, Mutoko and UMP (Mash East); Mt Darwin, Rushinga, Centenary and Mbire (Mash Central); Hurungwe and Kariba (Mash West) and Binga and Hwange (Mat North).
"The 2013 conference will look back at what we have done over the past year against what we had planned to do since the last conference in 2012 and strategise on how best to move forward to achieve our goals. We will need to be open with each other, look at ourselves critically and accept responsibility where we have not done well and adjust our approach to the work at hand going forward
"We have a long history of malaria prevention and control in the country and I am informed that some countries in the sub-region have actually come to Zimbabwe to learn about IRS, case management and other interventions.
"I believe it is through implementation of the WHO-recommended standard and effective malaria control interventions and the good partner collaboration that we have achieved the milestones that we have seen today," he said.
Manicaland provincial medical director Dr Simon Nyadundu expressed hope that the province will soldier on and reduce malaria cases.
"It is our hope that after this conference people will come up with strategies to minimise the prevalence of malaria. At the moment we are spraying heavily infested areas in the worst hit districts. Other interventions like mosquito nets and treatment are active.
"We also want to prevent pregnant women from falling sick by encouraging them to use intermittent presumptive medicines because we have high maternal mortality in the province," he said.
The National Malaria Control Programme manager, Dr Joseph Mberikunashe, said it made sense to the ministry to hold this year's conference in Manicaland so that people understood better the high prevalence rate in the province.
"We realised that we have some goals to achieve and thus if we don't deal with this province that is contributing much, we won't make it. We want to hear the story from this side so that we effectively devise ways to reduce the prevalence," he said.
Source - Manicapost
