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Elizabeth Tsuro Midlands Reporter
THE government has commenced the National Malaria Indicator Survey to be conducted in 20 districts to assess prevalence of the disease in the country.

The survey will assist the government in preparing a four-year malaria control plan to be used until the year 2020 that seeks to eradicate the disease in Zimbabwe.

The Director of the Malaria Control Programme in the Ministry of Health and Child welfare, Dr Joseph Mberikunashe said the survey started yesterday.

“Supervisors and enumerators from different provinces in the country, who were trained ahead of the survey, are now in the 20 selected districts where they were deployed. Everything is now in place and the survey will start today,” he said.

Dr Mberikunashe said the survey will attempt to measure the extent of malaria knowledge among the populace and evaluate barriers to access to treatment and services.

He said stratified sampling will be used in the survey and mostly pregnant women and different age groups in selected households are targeted.

“The survey will help the ministry to update a malaria control plan to be used till the year 2020 and during the survey we’ll offer free malaria testing and treatment,” he said.

Other partners like World Health Organisation (Who) and Zimstat are also coming in to help the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare to conduct the national survey. The last malaria indicator survey was conducted in 2012 and since then the ministry has been controlling the disease prevalence in the most malaria infested areas such as Midlands, Matabeleland South and North provinces.