Malaria ‘back with a vengeance’ in Zimbabwe - deaths from the disease triple : Farai Shawn Matiashe / The Guardian

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Summary
Zimbabwe has suffered a dramatic resurgence of malaria in 2025. Cases have surged to 119,648 and deaths have tripled—from 45 in early 2024 to 143 in the same period in 2025, contributing to 334 fatalities by late June.

The spike follows President Trump’s January aid cuts, which crippled USAID funding, sharply disrupting mosquito‑net and medication distribution and halting the Zento entomological research program vital to national control efforts.

The Zimbabwe Entomological Support Programme in Malaria (Zento), based at Africa University, had been instrumental since 2021: Manicaland province saw cases drop from 145,775 in 2020 to 8,035 in 2024. After funding was cut, cases rebounded to 27,212 in 2025. Over 600,000 nets went undistributed, and children under five now constitute 14% of cases. Heightened rainfall this year has worsened the situation.

Zimbabwe’s government is scrambling to fill the financing gap, with the deputy health minister confirming steps to procure nets locally and experts like Dr Henry Madzorera urging increased domestic health funding to reduce donor dependency. Despite the setbacks, the country remains committed to its goal of eliminating malaria by 2030—though experts warn recovery will require significant and sustained investment.

Quotes

“If mosquito nets and preventive medicines for pregnant women are unavailable, lives will be lost.” — Itai Rusike, director of Zimbabwe’s Community Working Group on Health (The Guardian)
“The malaria was back with a vengeance straight after…cases that were waning rebounded in 2025.” — Prof Sungano Mharakurwa, Africa University Malaria Institute (The Guardian)