Three Zimbabwean Researchers Awarded PhDs in Public Health

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Three Zimbabwean students supervised by the Dean of Research at UKZN’s College of Health Sciences, Professor Moses Chimbari, graduated with PhDs in Public Health.

They are Dr Margaret Macherera, Dr Tawanda Manyangadze and Dr Resign Gunda, who are part of Chimbari’s project, Malaria and Bilharzia in Southern Africa (MABISA), which involves different communities and other stakeholders.

MABISA is an interdisciplinary project examining the impact of climate change on bilharzia and malaria and is being carried out in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa.

Macherera’s thesis was titled:  “Indigenous Knowledge Systems on Malaria in the Gwanda district in Zimbabwe”.

Manyangadze’s thesis was titled: “Spatial and Temporal Modelling of Schistosomiasis Transmission at Micro-Scale in Southern Africa: A Case of the Ndumo area in uMkhanyakude health district in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa”.

Gunda’s dissertation was: The Burden of Malaria and related household economic costs in the Gwanda District in Zimbabwe.

All three studies are part of the MABISA project.

Macherera’s study involved the determination of the existing Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) pertaining to malaria in Zimbabwe’s Gwanda district.  It  aimed to determine the prospects  and  challenges  of  using  IKS  for malaria in the  health and medical  health  care  system in the district with the view to developing a community-centered malaria early warning system based on IKS.

Manyangadze’s study showed how GIS and Earth Observation tools can be used in modelling the spatial and temporal distribution of schistosomiasis at micro-geographical scale in southern Africa based on data from Ndumo area in the uMkhanyakude District in KwaZulu-Natal.

‘It shows the schistosomiasis infections hotspots across the landscape. This pattern was determined using socio-economic, environmental and climatic factors which expose the population to risk of schistosomiasis infection,’ said Manyangaze.

He said this knowledge could be used in schistosomiasis control and management programmes at community level as it enhanced understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of schistosomiasis transmission at a local scale.

Gunda’s thesis reports on studies conducted in Gwanda in Zimbabwe that were aimed firstly at determining the incidence, morbidity and mortality due to malaria in the district.  The studies were also aimed at determining the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost due to malaria, the distribution of malaria by age, sex and household economic status, the individual household economic costs due to malaria and at retrospectively determining the trends of the burden of malaria.

‘The study showed that the economic burden of malaria resulted in some households making catastrophic health expenditures, with some getting impoverished,’ said Gunda.

He said that was very important information for policy makers and other stakeholders in health to come up with interventions that would address the effects of the malaria burden.

‘As part of the MABISA study, there was extensive community engagement including training of community advisory boards (CABS) and community research assistants (CRAs),’ said Gunda.

He said this ensured that key community members were trained to be able to deal with the malaria problem in the future and to also pass on information to the rest of the community.’

‘This was the first study to use DALYs to determine the burden on malaria at ward and district levels in Zimbabwe.  It is also the first study in Zimbabwe to determine the household economic costs due to malaria using health facility data,’ said Gunda.

Nombuso Dlamini