ZIMBABWE is experiencing a sharp resurgence in malaria cases and deaths, raising alarm among health organisations, with Save the Children warning that progress toward elimination is being reversed.
As of mid-April 2026, the country had recorded more than 65 000 malaria cases and 174 deaths nearly double the figures reported during the same period in 2025.
The spike marks a significant setback compared to 2024, when Zimbabwe recorded approximately 17 000 cases and 34 deaths between January and April, before global aid cuts disrupted key health programmes.
According to a Save the Children report, last year’s funding reductions led to the premature closure of the Zimbabwe Assistance Programme in Malaria, once the country’s largest malaria control initiative.
The shutdown has resulted in shortages of insecticide-treated mosquito nets, delays in vector control efforts, and weakened disease surveillance systems.
Indications are that these challenges have been compounded by heavy rainfall and changing weather patterns, which have accelerated mosquito breeding.
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Malaria remains one of the deadliest diseases globally, particularly among children in sub-Saharan Africa.
A recent report by the World Health Organisation indicates that the disease accounts for 17% of deaths among children over one month old, with progress in reducing mortality slowing in recent years due to climate shocks, drug
resistance, and other emerging threats.
Save the Children noted that Zimbabwe had, until recently, been regarded as a global success story in malaria control.
It indicated that between 2023 and 2024, the country achieved a 76,6% reduction in cases — equivalent to approximately 487 000 fewer infections — putting it on track to significantly curb, and potentially eliminate, malaria by 2025.
By 2023, more than 20% of the population was living in malaria-free areas.
However, health experts warn that these gains are now at risk without sustained funding and coordinated intervention.
Save the Children International Zimbabwe country director, Bhekimpilo Khanye, said the reversal underscores the fragile nature of disease control progress.
“Communities, aid agencies, health workers and the government had been working together for years to beat malaria in Zimbabwe, and we were making real progress.
“Last year’s aid cuts have hugely set us back. These were projects focused on the total elimination of malaria from certain regions,” Khanye said in the report.
“It takes time to reduce numbers, but once malaria parasite levels start to dwindle in a community, it has a knock-on effect: there are fewer places for them to grow and breed, leading to increasingly smaller numbers until you reach zero.”
Khanye said that when this work stops, the opposite effect occurs, and cases begin to rise rapidly.
“We have seen a complete reversal, with gains that were made now undone. We call on global donors and leaders to refocus their attention on malaria, one of the leading causes of death among young children globally. We know it is preventable, and together we can bring numbers back down and save lives in Zimbabwe,” Khanye said.
Save the Children is now calling for renewed and sustained international investment to prevent further loss of life and to restore Zimbabwe’s progress toward malaria elimination.