“It is a known fact that people along the river cross this massive river, God knows how many times in a year for various reason, including fishing, visiting friends and relatives, seeking healthcare services as well as trading.
“The mighty Zambezi River is also a conducive environment for the malaria vectors,” said Mombeshora at a Zam-Zim Cross-border Malaria Initiative prelaunch press conference here on Wednesday.
In November last year both countries agreed to launch a cross border initiative to harmonise policies, synchronise activities and joint coordination to fight malaria.
Global Fund which funds malaria interventions in both countries agreed to provide seed money to start the noble project expected to eliminate the deadly disease in the two countries.
Mombeshora said the malaria burden in the country is more concentrated along the border districts especially those along the borders with Zambia and Mozambique.
“In 2012 the malaria incidence in the central parts of country ranged between zero and three per 1 000 population while the incidence in the border districts ranged from 68-195 per 1 000 population,” he said.
“The goal of the Zimbabwe Malaria Control Programme is to reduce malaria incidence from 95 per 1 000 in 2007 to 15 per 1 000 by 2015 and malaria deaths to near zero by 2015 through establishing cross-border partnerships,” he added.
Mombeshora said government has set up some funding to initiate development of road and health infrastructure in a bid to improve universal access in such marginalised remote areas.
“Through the Presidential Malaria Initiative and stakeholders, government’s funding and a Malaria Business Plan 2013-2015 we are going to create specific programmes targeted for border areas to improve health interventions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zambia Minister of Health, Joseph Kasonde said the initiative will act as a catalyst for other health initiatives which have been formed but have not formalized operations across borders.
“The two nations need to harmonise policies, guidelines, strengthen coordination, mobilise adequate resources and engage communities and other health service providers to ensure that this initiative succeeds,” he said.
“It should be understood that cross-border initiatives are not stand-alone activities but complement national efforts to control and eliminate malaria by jointly mobilising financial and technical resources for the malaria elimination in the region,” added Kasonde.
Kasonde said effective implementation of the programme will go a long way in compliment activities already taking place in the southern Zambian province.
“This province falls under the epidemiological category 2: with areas where sustained malaria prevention and control has markedly reduced transmission and parasite prevalence to between two and 14 percent in children during the peak season.
“Recently I visited the city of Livingstone to launch malaria safety guidelines ahead of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly set for August this year,” he said.
Kasonde said his government took a cue from Zimbabwe to establish a local health funding system to sustain their programmes.
“Just like the Zimbabwean AIDS Levy we have established a National Health Fund and very soon we shall have good roads just like Zimbabwe and achieve our desire to have supported and documented five malaria free districts,’ he said.
“Most of the districts that share borders with Zimbabwe have the potential to reduce malaria and move towards pre-elimination and eventually elimination of malaria,” added Kasonde.
Post published in: News