Zimbabwe faces potential malaria outbreak

ZIMBABWE faces a potential malaria outbreak this year if health teams continue to focus on the cholera outbreak, according to a report by Roll Back Malaria (RBM) partnership.

RBM partnership, a global public-private partnership aimed at fighting malaria. It was launched in 1998 by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank in an effort to cut in half the number of deaths from malaria by 2010 as part of the Millennium Development Goals initiative.

Malaria kills about 3 million people every year, the majority of whom are African children. The disease costs Africa an estimated US$12 billion in lost productivity every year.

Health teams in Zimbabwe are currently being diverted to control the cholera outbreak which has claimed about 2,010 people.

According to RBM, no Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) or Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN’s) were rolled out to cover the rainy season.

In 2007-2008, a total of 322 278 households representing over 1,6 million people were covered by IRS.

Herve Verhoosel of the RBM Partnership said: “In the current transmission season, IRS has not taken place, leaving at least 1,63 million people at higher risk of malaria.”

He said that “the surveillance system which helped to monitor and control epidemics has broken down throughout much of the country.

“Large malaria outbreaks could therefore take hold rapidly and claim many victims before the necessary steps can be put in place to halt the spread of the disease.

“RBM Partnership is in touch with agencies on the ground to be ready to respond to the country’s needs once identified,” he said.