Malaria Transmission at The Zimbabwe-Mozambique Border: An Observational Study of Parasitemia by Travel History and Household Location.

ABSTRACT

Cross-border human population movement contributes to malaria transmission in border regions, impeding national elimination. However, its impact in low-to-moderate transmission settings is not well characterized. This community-based study in Mutasa District, Zimbabwe, estimated the association of parasite prevalence with self-reported overnight travel to Mozambique and household distance to the border from 2012-2020. A fully adjusted Poisson regression model with robust variance estimation was fit using active surveillance data. The population attributable fraction of parasite prevalence from overnight travel was also estimated. The relative risk of testing positive for malaria by rapid diagnostic test declined 14% (prevalence ratio [PR] = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.81-0.92) per kilometer from the border up to 12 km away. Travel to Mozambique was associated with a 157% increased risk (PR = 2.57, 95% CI = 1.38-4.78), although only 5.8% of cases were attributable to overnight travel (95% CI = -1.1% to 12.7%), reflecting infrequent overnight trips (1.3% of visits). This study suggests that transmission in eastern Zimbabwe is driven by increasingly conducive social or environmental conditions approaching the border and low levels of importation from overnight travel. Although day trips to Mozambique during peak biting hours were not assessed, the contribution of such trips to ongoing transmission may be significant. Future malaria control efforts should prioritize high coverage of existing interventions and continued support for community health workers and health facilities at the border, which provide free case management.