Malaria returns to Zimbabwe 'with a vengeance', experts warn, after USAID cuts bite

Zimbabwe's efforts to control malaria have been dealt a huge blow as experts say the disease has returned "with a vengeance" after cuts in aid from the US.

- Farai Shawn Matiashe

With 115 outbreaks recorded so far this year, compared with only one in 2024, the sharp rise in cases comes six months after Donald Trump halted critical funding for US research and national response programmes.

Cuts in January crippled the Zimbabwe Entomological Support Programme in Malaria (Zento), which provides the country's national malaria control programme with research to combat the disease.

Malaria cases increased by 180% in the first four months of 2025, according to the health ministry, while the number of malaria-related deaths rose 218%, from 45 in the same period in 2024 to 143. As of 26 June, the number of cases had risen to 119,648, with 334 deaths, according to Zimbabwe's health ministry.

The distribution of control methods, such as mosquito nets, was also disrupted, leaving hundreds of thousands of people exposed to mosquito bites. The health ministry said in May that 1,615,000 insecticide-treated nets were being distributed but that there was a shortfall of 600,000 due to the withdrawal of US funding.