HARARE, 24 April 2025 \u2013\u00a0Hard\u2011won\u00a0progress toward\u00a0eliminating\u00a0malaria in Zimbabwe is\u00a0being reversed following\u00a0cuts to\u00a0foreign aid,\u00a0with\u00a0malaria cases\u00a0and deaths\u00a0surging\u00a0across the country,\u00a0said\u00a0Save the Children, on the eve of World Malaria Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As of mid-April, Zimbabwe had recorded over 65,000 malaria cases in 2026,\u00a0nearly double\u00a0as many malaria cases compared to the same period in 2025, with 174 deaths already \u2014\u00a0nearly\u00a0double the number\u00a0for\u00a02025\u00a0[1].\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
By contrast, between January and April 2024 – before the aid cuts – Zimbabwe only had around 17,000 cases and 34 deaths, which is\u00a0just about half\u00a0of the cases and deaths reported over the same period in 2025 after the global aid cuts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s\u00a0aid cuts\u00a0led to premature ending of the\u00a0second phase of the country\u2019s largest malaria programme\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Zimbabwe Assistance Program in Malaria\u2014\u00a0which\u00a0had been on track towards\u00a0eliminating\u00a0the deadly disease\u00a0[2].\u00a0Save the Children, one of the four partners\u00a0implementing the programme, said\u00a0the closure of the programme\u00a0has\u00a0led to shortages of\u00a0insecticide\u2011treated\u00a0mosquito nets, delays in vector control operations, and weakened disease surveillance, with\u00a0heavy rainfall and\u00a0fluctuating weather patterns\u00a0further\u00a0promoting the\u00a0spread of the disease.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Malaria\u00a0remains\u00a0the single largest killer of children over one month of age globally (17 per cent) \u2013 with most deaths occurring in endemic areas of sub-Saharan Africa,\u00a0according to\u00a0a\u00a0report from the\u00a0World Health Organisation (WHO)<\/a>\u00a0released last month.\u00a0According to the\u00a0report,\u00a0progress towards reducing malaria mortality has slowed in recent years after steep declines between 2000 and 2015\u00a0with climate shocks, invasive mosquitos, drug resistance, and other biological threats continuing\u00a0to affect access to prevention and treatment.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, for more than a decade, Zimbabwe had been regarded as an international\u00a0malaria success story.\u00a0Zimbabwe made the greatest gains in malaria reduction\u00a0globally in 2024<\/a>, in both incidence and mortality. From 2023 to 2024, Zimbabwe reduced cases by 76.6% (equivalent to 487,000 cases), with the country on track to reach a more\u00a0than 70% reduction and up to zero incidence<\/a>\u00a0in 2025.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n