Hard‑won progress toward eliminating malaria in Zimbabwe is being reversed following cuts to foreign aid, with malaria cases and deaths surging across the country, said Save the Children, on the eve of World Malaria Day.
As of mid-April, Zimbabwe had recorded over 65,000 malaria cases in 2026, nearly double as many malaria cases compared to the same period in 2025, with 174 deaths already — nearly double the number for 2025 [1].
By contrast, between January and April 2024 – before the aid cuts – Zimbabwe only had around 17,000 cases and 34 deaths, which is just about half of the cases and deaths reported over the same period in 2025 after the global aid cuts.
Last year’s aid cuts led to premature ending of the second phase of the country’s largest malaria programme – Zimbabwe Assistance Program in Malaria— which had been on track towards eliminating the deadly disease [2]. Save the Children, one of the four partners implementing the programme, said the closure of the programme has led to shortages of insecticide‑treated mosquito nets, delays in vector control operations, and weakened disease surveillance, with heavy rainfall and fluctuating weather patterns further promoting the spread of the disease.
Malaria remains the single largest killer of children over one month of age globally (17 per cent) – with most deaths occurring in endemic areas of sub-Saharan Africa, according to a report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) released last month. According to the report, progress towards reducing malaria mortality has slowed in recent years after steep declines between 2000 and 2015 with climate shocks, invasive mosquitos, drug resistance, and other biological threats continuing to affect access to prevention and treatment.
However, for more than a decade, Zimbabwe had been regarded as an international malaria success story. Zimbabwe made the greatest gains in malaria reduction globally in 2024, in both incidence and mortality. From 2023 to 2024, Zimbabwe reduced cases by 76.6% (equivalent to 487,000 cases), with the country on track to reach a more than 70% reduction and up to zero incidence in 2025.
Sustained investment by international partners, including through the Zimbabwe Assistance Program in Malaria, was one of the key factors in this success, and by 2023, more than one fifth of the population of Zimbabwe was living in malaria‑free areas, according to World Health Organization data.
Save the Children said eliminating malaria is possible, but only if commitment is sustained, calling for predictable, long‑term investment to protect children’s lives and prevent malaria from resurging in communities that had begun to see real hope.
Save the Children’s Country Director for Zimbabwe and Malawi, Bhekimpilo Khanye, said:
“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. It takes a while to reduce numbers but once the malaria parasite numbers start to dwindle in a community, it has a knock-on effect – less places for them to grow and breed means increasingly smaller numbers until you reach zero. However, when you stop this work, it has the opposite impact – numbers start to rapidly increase. We have seen a complete reversal, with the gains that were made now reversed.
“We are calling on global donors and leaders to refocus their attention on malaria, one of the leading global causes of death in young children. We know its preventable and together we can bring numbers back down and save lives in Zimbabwe.”
Save the Children has worked in Zimbabwe since 1983 and is currently scaling up its emergency response to help the most vulnerable children. The agency is focusing on food security, health, nutrition, education and child protection.
[1] From the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health National Malaria Control Programme Weekly Surveillance report – Overview Week 15 2026, Week 15 2025, and Week 15 2024 comparisons. Malaria cases:17,539 (Week 15 2024) 36,421 (Week 15 2025) 65,399 (Week 15 2026); Malaria deaths: 34 (Week 15 2024) 85 (Week 15 2025) 174 (Week 15 2026).
[2] Referred to as ZAPIM (Zimbabwe Assistance Program in Malaria), a USAID-funded project aimed at supporting the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) under Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and Child Care to reduce malaria incidence and mortality, with phase one running between 2015 – 2021 and phase 2 between 2021–2026. The programme has since been discontinued.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.
