title: Indigenous environmental indicators for malaria: A district study in Zimbabwe.
abstract: This paper discusses indigenous environmental indicators for the occurrence of malaria in ward 11, 15 and 18 of Gwanda district, Zimbabwe. The study was inspired by the successes of use of indigenous knowledge systems in community based early warning systems for natural disasters. To our knowledge, no study has examined the relationship between malaria epidemics and climatic factors in Gwanda district. The aim of the study was to determine the environmental indicators for the occurrence of malaria. Twenty eight key informants from the 3 wards were studied. Questionnaires, focus group discussions and PRA sessions were used to collect data. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. The local name for malaria was 'uqhuqho' literally meaning a fever. The disease is also called, "umkhuhlane wemiyane" and is derived from the association between malaria and mosquitoes. The findings of our study reveal that trends in malaria incidence are perceived to positively correlate with variations in both temperature and rainfall, although factors other than climate seem to play an important role too. Plant phenology and insects are the commonly used indicators in malaria prediction in the study villages. Other indicators for malaria prediction included the perceived noise emanating from mountains, referred to as "roaring of mountains" and certain behaviours exhibited by ostriches. The results of the present study highlight the importance of using climatic information in the analysis of malaria surveillance data, and this knowledge can be integrated into the conventional health system to develop a community based malaria forecasting system.
authors: Department of Environmental Science and Health, Faculty of Applied sciences, National University of Science and Technology, P O Box, AC 939 Ascot, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe; College of Health Sciences 1st Floor Desmond Clarence Building Howard College, Postal Address: University of KZN, Durban 4041, South Africa. Electronic address: mmacherera@gmail.com.
authors: Margaret
authors: M
authors: Macherera
authors: College of Health Sciences 1st Floor Desmond Clarence Building Howard College, Postal Address: University of KZN, Durban 4041, South Africa.
authors: Moses J
authors: MJ
authors: Chimbari
authors: School of Life Sciences University of Kwazulu Natal, Westville Campus, University of KZN, Durban 4000, South Africa.
authors: Samson
authors: S
authors: Mukaratirwa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002980:Climate; D004777:Environment; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D013696:Temperature; D015030:Zimbabwe / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Early warning systems; Indicators; Indigenous knowledge systems; Malaria; Zimbabwe