Zambia: Malaria cases up by 37% in 2023

Lusaka, Zambia - Zambia saw a 37 per cent year-on-year increase in malaria cases from 8.1mn in 2022 to 11.1mn in 2023, the country’s health minister said on Sunday.

Sylvia Masebo said the country also saw a 19 per cent increase in malaria deaths from 1,343 in 2022 to 1,602 in 2023, translating to 30,400 citizens being infected daily and four people dying per day from the disease.

“It is even more disheartening that 18 per cent of these infections were in children under the age of five years and 1 per cent were pregnant women,” Masebo told reporters in the capital Lusaka.

On targeted interventions to combat the disease, Masebo said that Zambia through the National Malaria Elimination Centre had completed the distribution of more than 11.6mn insecticide treated mosquito nets across the country.

“This translates into the protection of 23.2mn people with this intervention. However, I must emphasise that having or owning a mosquito net is one thing; the game-changer is the actual use. For these mosquito nets to be effective, they must be used correctly and consistently, every night and throughout the year,” she said. Masebo also indicated that 742,057 eligible structures had been sprayed

The country also saw a 19% increase in malaria deaths from 1,343 in 2022 to 1,602 in 2023

through an indoor residual spraying programme, protecting over 3.4mn people with the vector control intervention.

On Thursday, Zambia will join the world in commemorating World Malaria Day under the global theme ‘Gender, health, equity and human rights,’ with the accompanying slogan: ‘Accelerating the fight against malaria for a more equitable world’.