Aid cuts and climate change drive deadly malaria surge in Zimbabwe

Harare,
Zimbabwe
– Precious
Mvundura
woke
up
with
joint
pain,
a
high
fever
and
a
pounding
headache
on
a
chilly
autumn
morning
in
eastern
Zimbabwe.

The
37-year-old
initially
thought
it
was
just
the
flu.
But
when
the
headache
persisted
for
three
days,
she
became
worried.

Her
five-year-old
son
had
also
fallen
ill
and
was
sweating
heavily.

In
early
May,
the
pair
sought
help
from
a
village
health
worker
in
Chishakwe,
a
rural
farming
community
outside
Zimbabwe’s
third-largest
city,
Mutare.
Both
tested
positive
for
malaria.

“I
felt
relieved,”
Mvundura
told
Al
Jazeera.

“From
the
moment
I
took
that
medication,
I
started
getting
better.”

Her
son
has
also
recovered
and
is
back
in
school.

Their
ordeal
comes
as
malaria
cases
and
deaths
surge
across
Zimbabwe
after
US
funding
cuts
disrupted
key
malaria
control
programmes.

Shortly
after
returning
to
office
for
a
second
term
in
2025,
US
President
Donald
Trump
slashed
foreign
aid
funding,
including
programmes
backed
by
the
United
States
Agency
for
International
Development
(USAID).
In
Zimbabwe,
the
cuts
disrupted
tuberculosis,
HIV/AIDS
and
malaria
research,
prevention
and
treatment
programmes.

Among
the
affected
initiatives
were
the
Zimbabwe
Entomological
Support
Programme
in
Malaria
(ZENTO)
at
Africa
University
in
Mutare,
which
provided
scientific
research
to
support
the
country’s
National
Malaria
Control
Programme,
and
the
Zimbabwe
Assistance
Programme
in
Malaria
II
(ZAPIM
II),
which
helped
strengthen
malaria
diagnosis,
treatment
and
prevention
in
high-burden
districts.

USAID
had
disbursed
$270m
for
health
and
agriculture
programmes
in
Zimbabwe
in
2024.

Malaria
cases
jumped
to
65,399
between
January
and
April
2026,
up
from
36,000
recorded
during
the
same
period
in
2025
and
17,000
in
2024,
according
to
Zimbabwe’s
Ministry
of
Health
National
Malaria
Control
Programme
weekly
surveillance
report.

Deaths
have
also
risen
sharply,
reaching
174
between
January
and
April
2026,
compared
with
85
during
the
same
period
last
year
and
34
in
2024.

Mvundura
and
her
son
survived
because
they
sought
treatment
early.
In
many
other
cases,
the
disease
has
been
fatal.

Shortages
of
mosquito
nets,
test
kits

Thomas
Chuchu,
the
health
programme
lead
at
Save
the
Children
Zimbabwe,
said
several
malaria
elimination
activities
previously
supported
by
ZAPIM
II
had
been
disrupted.

“In
practice,
elimination
has
continued
through
government
and
other
partners,
but
with
weaker
operational
capacity
and
slower
implementation,”
Chuchu
told
Al
Jazeera.

The
ZAPIM
II
programme
ran
through
Zimbabwe’s
Ministry
of
Health
system
in
11
districts
across
the
provinces
of
Central
and
East
Mashonaland
and
the
province
of
Matabeleland
North.

Before
falling
ill,
Mvundura
said
she
had
not
been
using
mosquito
nets
or
repellents.

“I
only
started
using
a
mosquito
net
a
friend
shared
when
I
fell
sick,”
she
said.

In
December
2025,
Caroline
Mawombedzi
was
diagnosed
with
malaria
while
living
in
Burma
Valley,
a
farming
community
about
an
hour’s
drive
from
Mutare.

She
had
last
contracted
the
disease
in
the
late
2000s
while
still
a
child.

In
mid-May,
her
five-year-old
daughter
was
also
diagnosed
with
malaria
by
a
village
health
worker
in
Chishakwe
after
suffering
severe
headaches
and
stomach
problems.

Although
her
daughter
received
treatment,
Mawombedzi
said
she
could
not
afford
preventive
measures
such
as
mosquito
nets.

“I
am
unemployed.
I
cannot
afford
to
buy
a
mosquito
net.
We
have
not
been
sleeping
under
a
mosquito
net
for
years,”
she
said.

Virginia
Chakandinakira,
a
village
health
worker
serving
Chishakwe,
said
malaria
diagnostic
kits
and
drugs
are
now
in
short
supply.

“I
used
to
get
plenty
of
malaria
test
kits
and
drugs.
But
in
2025,
they
did
not
give
me.
I
referred
everyone
showing
malaria
to
a
nearby
Chitakatira
clinic,”
she
said.
Chitakatira
is
a
rural
settlement
about
an
hour’s
drive
from
Chishakwe.

“I
only
received
test
kits
and
drugs
in
February.
However,
the
supplies
are
limited.
The
authorities
told
us
they
were
only
distributing
them
to
hotspot
communities.”

Research
programmes
crippled

Professor
Sungano
Mharakurwa,
the
director
of
Africa
University’s
Malaria
Institute,
said
the
abrupt
withdrawal
of
US
support
had
worsened
the
malaria
outbreak
by
affecting
the
programme.

ZENTO
was
contributing
data
from
the
surveillance
of
malaria-carrying
mosquitoes,
which
guided
strategies
employed
by
the
National
Malaria
Control
Programme
to
control
malaria
transmission,
he
said.

The
Trump
administration’s
funding
cuts
have
also
effectively
put
a
stop
to
the
US
President’s
Malaria
Initiative
(PMI),
launched
in
2005
by
former
President
George
W
Bush
to
control
and
eliminate
malaria
worldwide.
Mharakurwa
said
the
PMI
had
played
a
major
role
in
funding
malaria
medications,
and
communities
had
been
left
exposed
without
it.

He
said
the
Malaria
Institute
later
secured
funding
from
the
United
Methodist
Church
General
Board
of
Global
Ministry,
but
it
fell
far
short
of
previous
US
assistance.

Zimbabwe’s
dependence
on
donor
funding
for
essential
medicines,
diagnostic
kits
and
mosquito-control
supplies
has
left
the
country
vulnerable.

Itai
Rusike,
the
director
of
Zimbabwe’s
Community
Working
Group
on
Health,
said
the
government
needed
to
strengthen
domestic
health
financing
to
reduce
dependence
on
foreign
donors.

“It
is
risky
for
a
country
to
depend
substantially
on
external
partners,
as
donors
can
withdraw
financial
support
anytime
should
their
interests
shift,”
he
said.

Climate
change
fuels
spread

Experts
say
climate
change
is
also
driving
the
spread
of
malaria
and
other
vector-borne
diseases
across
Africa.

Rising
temperatures
are
allowing
malaria
to
spread
into
higher-altitude
areas,
which
were
once
less
vulnerable
to
outbreaks.

Zimbabwe
experienced
El
Niño
between
2023
and
2024,
a
climate
phenomenon
marked
by
unusually
warm
temperatures
in
the
Pacific
Ocean,
which
typically
disrupts
rainfall
patterns
across
Southern
Africa.

Heavy
rainfall
followed
in
2025
and
2026,
creating
ideal
breeding
conditions
for
mosquitoes.

Chuchu,
from
Save
the
Children
Zimbabwe,
said
that
the
current
spike
in
malaria
cases
was
closely
linked
to
the
heavy
rains
during
the
2025–2026
season.

“The
rains
created
favourable
breeding
conditions
for
mosquitoes,
particularly
in
already
endemic
provinces
such
as
Mashonaland
Central,
Manicaland,
Mashonaland
East
and
Mashonaland
West,”
he
said.

“The
effect
of
heavy
rains
is
likely
being
amplified
by
weakened
prevention
systems,
including
reduced
mosquito-net
coverage,
delayed
vector-control
activities,
reduced
community
surveillance,
and
challenges
with
timely
testing
and
treatment
following
the
discontinuation
of
ZAPIM,”
he
added.

Professor
Mharakurwa,
meanwhile,
said
that
above-normal
rainfall
required
equally
strong
preparation
and
resources
to
contain
malaria
transmission.

Government
efforts

Zimbabwe
aims
to
eliminate
malaria
by
2030,
in
line
with
the
target
set
by
the
African
Union.

Over
the
years,
the
government,
working
with
international
donors
and
aid
organisations,
has
relied
on
indoor
residual
spraying,
mosquito-net
distribution,
mass
testing
and
public
awareness
campaigns
to
contain
outbreaks,
particularly
in
rural
communities.

Health
workers
continue
to
carry
out
indoor
spraying
campaigns
in
malaria-prone
areas,
while
village
health
educators
use
community
meetings
and
radio
programmes
to
encourage
early
testing
and
treatment.
Authorities
have
also
expanded
surveillance
and
rapid-response
systems
in
high-risk
districts.

But
some
of
these
efforts
have
weakened
following
the
disruption
of
donor-funded
programmes.
Key
malaria
elimination
activities
previously
supported
by
ZAPIM
II
included
active
case
tracking,
targeted
distribution
of
long-lasting
insecticidal
nets
and
district
rapid-response
systems.

For
years,
the
government
and
aid
organisations
distributed
mosquito
nets
annually
to
vulnerable
communities,
such
as
Chishakwe.
But
since
the
US
funding
cuts,
shortages
have
become
increasingly
common.

Village
health
workers
say
malaria
diagnostic
kits
and
treatment
drugs
are
also
running
low
in
some
rural
areas,
forcing
suspected
malaria
patients
to
travel
long
distances
to
clinics
for
testing
and
treatment.

Health
experts
warn
that
unless
funding
gaps
are
urgently
addressed,
Zimbabwe
risks
losing
years
of
progress
made
in
reducing
malaria
infections
and
deaths.

For
Mvundura
and
her
son,
surviving
malaria
still
feels
like
escaping
death.

“We
cheated
death,”
she
said.
“It
was
so
bad.”