Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries need more accurate and timely malaria data to ensure scarce health resources reach communities facing the greatest risk as the region works towards eliminating the disease by 2030, the government has said.
Deputy Health Minister Florence George Samizi said reliable data was critical to identifying where malaria infections were increasing, which groups remained most vulnerable and whether prevention and treatment programmes were reaching the people who needed them most.
She made the remarks on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, while representing Health Minister Mohamed Mchengerwa at the opening of a SADC regional meeting to validate the bloc’s 2026 annual malaria report in Dar es Salaam.
“The quality of our response to malaria depends on the quality of the data guiding our decisions. Good data is the foundation for targeting interventions, allocating resources, measuring results and identifying emerging challenges,” Dr Samizi said.
The emphasis on data comes as countries contend with changing malaria patterns and other factors that can complicate efforts to control transmission, including resistance to medicines and insecticides, climate change and population movement.
Dr Samizi said surveillance systems must be strong enough to detect such changes early, allowing health authorities to adjust interventions before emerging trends become harder to contain.
For communities, better malaria data could help health authorities direct mosquito-control measures, testing, treatment and other interventions to areas where they are most needed rather than relying on broad regional estimates.
Dr Samizi challenged participants to use the meeting for more than validating statistics, urging them to examine why some interventions were succeeding while others were failing to close persistent gaps.
She also called for countries to agree on practical measures to improve the collection, reporting and use of malaria information.
“Tanzania will continue working with SADC member states, the SADC Secretariat and development partners to strengthen surveillance and the use of data to accelerate malaria elimination efforts and achieve a malaria-free SADC by 2030,” she said.
The regional meeting provides an opportunity for member states to compare malaria trends, identify weaknesses in surveillance and improve the use of evidence in planning and allocating resources for malaria control.
The 2030 target will require countries to translate better data into timely action, particularly in communities where malaria transmission remains persistent.