Elimination Target Year
Country Overview
Malaria Country Profile
- Zimbabwe achieved a 50% decrease in reported malaria cases between 2015 and 2019; twenty of its sixty-two districts are implementing elimination strategies.
- 50% of the population is at risk of contracting malaria (Total Population: 14.65 million)
- Zimbabwe has seen a decline in malaria cases from 29/1000 population in 2015 to 22/1000 population in 2019. Deaths have been reduced from 462 in 2015 to 192 in 2018.
- Transmission is highly heterogeneous; with malaria infections from three main provinces: Manicaland, Mashonaland East, and Mashonaland Central.
Elimination Strategies Implemented
The key approaches of the National Malaria Strategic Plan (NMSP) 2016-2020 include: achieving universal access to malaria prevention with 90% of the population at risk covered by indoor residual spraying (IRS) and insecticide treated nets, improving diagnosis and treatment of malaria, improving detection and timely control of malaria epidemics. Zimbabwe has declared a sub-national elimination goal, aiming to achieve zero cases by 2020 in approximately one third of the territory of Zimbabwe. Twenty of Zimbabwe’s sixty-three districts are in elimination phase, with incidence of less than 5 per 1,000, and less than 1 per 1,000 in Beitbridge Province.
Best Practices
- Zimbabwe has stratified its districts, classifying 29/63 as elimination districts, which are in the southern – most parts of Zimbabwe. This allows for the country to employ different strategies in the elimination and control districts of the country, including buffer districts which are between the two.
- The country has community health workers who have been deployed to implement integrated community case management from the grass-roots level, allowing early access to testing and treatment of malaria.
