Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education
Open Access

Abstract

Malaria poses a significant threat to public health in Zimbabwe and is one of the highest contributors to morbidity and mortality in the country. However, very little is known about the burden of malaria in areas affected by the disease. The disability adjusted life year (DALY) metric was used to determine the burden of malaria in Gwanda District, Zimbabwe. This study provides a better understanding of the impact of disease burden on affected populations. Data for determination of DALYs for malaria was collected from health facility malaria registers and from the District Health Information System to estimate DALYs at household and district levels respectively. The household DALYs included malaria cases for 2013-2015 (n=130) while the DALYs for the district included confirmed cases from 2011-2015 (n=719). DALYs were calculated based on the methodology described in the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study. Malaria imposes a substantial disease burden on affected communities despite a general decrease in the national incidence rates. Households lost a total of 153.89 DALYs with the majority of the disease burden (65.55%) occurring in the most economically productive age group (15-45 years) with a mean loss of 1.18 DALYs per malaria case. At district level, 251.09 DALYs were lost due to malaria and the calculated average district DALY rate for 2011-2015 was 36.29 DALYs /100 000 persons/year. It is important to estimate this burden to assist policy makers in channelling resources to enable interventions that will assist in reducing it.

Biography

Resign Gunda is a PhD student at University of KwaZulu-Natal School of Nursing and Public Health. His main research interests are in tropical disease with a main focus on malaria.

Email: gundazr@yahoo.co.uk