Kundai Manamere’s Malaria on the Move offers a fascinating and richly contextualized study of malaria in Zimbabwe’s south-eastern lowveld, skilfully weaving historical epidemiology with some anthropological insights. She critiques biomedical triumphalism by emphasizing the importance of local socio-economic factors in disease control, which are often overlooked in most malaria intervention strategies. By integrating epidemiological data, policy shifts and the socio-political dynamics of migration in a historical context, Manamere gives a richly detailed account of Zimbabwe’s malaria control efforts. She argues that mobility, such as circular labour migration, colonial displacements and rural livelihoods, was central to malaria transmission and communities’ resistance to intervention (pp. 4–5). The book effectively integrates global health policy with local lived experiences, offering a nuanced understanding of how public health programmes often fail when they ignore the priorities and perceptions of the people they target.

One of the book’s major strengths lies in its historical depth and interdisciplinary approach. It blends medical history, colonial policy and the politics of settler colonialism to effectively trace how malaria was not merely a health issue but a strategic concern for colonial administrators seeking to protect and sustain the white economy. The book goes further to explore debates about resistance among white settlers and scientists, thereby effectively presenting colonial actors not as monolithic, predictable and simplistic, but as always negotiating the complex and conflicting interests of empire and science. Instead, as Manamere argues, malaria research in colonial Zimbabwe was a battleground of conflicting theories, contested authorities and deep scepticism. The discussion from the Rhodesia Scientific Association meeting, for instance, reveals how scientific ideas were contested and filtered through personal experience, racial ideology and religious beliefs (pp. 27–31). Certainly, earlier scholars have advanced similar arguments, laying a critical foundation for this line of inquiry.Footnote ¹ Nonetheless, this adds texture to the book’s historical account and challenges simplistic portrayals of colonial science as a universally accepted or uniformly applied project.

By tracing the legacy of colonial health systems and the inequities they produced, Manamere shows how the newly independent government sought to address these imbalances. The narrative captures the tension between curative and preventive health strategies, highlighting how resource allocation continued to favour urban spaces despite rhetorical commitments to address rural–urban health disparities. The book also demonstrates how the Fast Track Land Reform programme, population movements and the deterioration of biomedical services as a result of economic turmoil in the 2000s exacerbated malaria transmission. This analysis is particularly compelling in its use of primary sources, including health officer reports, oral interviews and newspaper accounts, which ground the discussion in lived experiences. The author’s attention to cultural practices, such as holiday travel and kinship obligations, adds depth to the epidemiological narrative, illustrating how social norms intersect with malaria ecology (pp. 118–120). This multidimensional approach strengthens the book’s argument that malaria control cannot be detached from broader patterns of mobility and social organization. At the same time, the book contextualizes Zimbabwe’s malaria-control efforts within broader regional and global malaria control efforts, such as the Roll Back Malaria initiative and the Abuja Declaration, providing a nuanced understanding of both local and international dynamics.

However, the book’s breadth occasionally comes at the expense of analytical precision. In addition, a few chapters lack clear transitions and synthesis, and a more balanced treatment of trade-offs and clearer signposting would have improved the overall analytical depth. Also, while the historical and political context is essential, the narrative sometimes becomes overly descriptive, making it difficult for readers to discern the central argument or thematic thread. For instance, while the reintroduction of DDT for residual spraying is discussed in detail, the environmental and health implications are only briefly acknowledged, leaving a gap in critical engagement with the broader consequences of such decisions. The critique of international health organizations and their neglect of local contexts is persuasive, but at times risks generalization without fully unpacking the complexities of policy implementation.

Despite these limitations, Manamere’s work remains a valuable contribution to the burgeoning corpus of historical and anthropological works on health and disease eradication in Africa. Moreover, the book’s attention to the role of various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health, international donors and private sector actors, underscores the complexity of malaria control in a politically and economically volatile environment. Overall, the book successfully reframes malaria not just as a biomedical issue but as a deeply social, economic and political scourge, shaped by historical injustices and postcolonial governance, and urges scholars and policymakers alike to rethink how global health engages with the local. This lays a strong foundation for future research that might incorporate gender analysis, urban studies and environmental science to deepen our understanding of malaria’s persistence in Zimbabwe.