BULAWAYO, 3 May 2010 (IRIN) - Decaying road infrastructure in Binga district, in Zimbabwe's province of Matabeleland North, prevented anti-malaria spraying teams from reaching the area, and is being blamed for an outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease.

Health officials told IRIN that hospitals and clinics in the remote and humid district in the Zambezi valley on the border with Zambia, have recorded 90 percent of the province's malaria cases this year: 4,500 cases in the past four months, resulting in 14 fatalities.

Zimbabwe's economic malaise has put paid to upgrading or maintenance of much of its existing road infrastructure, while rivers in flood have limited the ability of health ministry teams to carry out preventative spraying of dwellings and mosquito breeding grounds, such as stagnant water, particularly in rural areas.

"At one time I spent four hours waiting for the river to subside from a low bridge before we were able to get to the other side," said acting provincial medical director Dr Paul Hazangue after a recent visit to the area.

"We received more malaria cases from Binga largely due to intermittent rains experienced in that district - mosquitoes breed and mature faster in such weather conditions."

Hazangue said the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare had set up malaria management courses for nurses at rural clinics, and had established satellite clinics in the districts of Lupane, Hwange, Tsholotsho and Nkayi.

Distribution of drugs

He hoped the ministry's distribution of medical equipment and drugs to hospitals and remote clinics in Binga would help to contain the outbreak, although bad roads remained an impediment, especially during rains.

The low-lying regions of the Zambezi valley are particularly vulnerable to malaria, and the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society has targeted these areas with distributions of insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, the council has been spraying waterways and residences to control mosquito activity since March. Depending on the size of the dwelling, spraying costs between US$17 and US$51; about half the homes in the city's working-class suburbs have been treated.