title: Assessment of Burden of Malaria in Gwanda District, Zimbabwe, Using the Disability Adjusted Life Years.
abstract: Malaria is one of the highest contributors to morbidity and mortality in Zimbabwe. However, there is paucity of knowledge regarding disability adjusted life years (DALYs) as a measure of burden of malaria in affected communities. The DALYs metric was used to assess the burden of malaria in Gwanda District with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of the impact of disease on affected communities. Data was collected from health facility malaria registers and the District Health Information System (DHIS) to estimate DALYs at household and district levels respectively. The household DALYs included 130 malaria cases from 2013 to 2015 while the DALYs for the district included 719 confirmed malaria cases from 2011 to 2015. 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 per year. It is important to estimate malaria burden to assist policy makers in making informed decisions when channelling resources for control and prevention of the disease.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa. gundazr@yahoo.co.uk.
authors.forename: Resign
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gunda
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard Campus, Durban 4001, South Africa. Chimbari@ukzn.ac.za.
authors.forename: Moses John
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Chimbari
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban 4000, South Africa. Mukaratirwa@ukzn.ac.za.
authors.forename: Samson
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukaratirwa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017281:Cost of Illness; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D012042:Registries; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult; D015030:Zimbabwe / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Gwanda District; Zimbabwe; disability adjusted life year; disease burden; malaria