Lagos ramps up digital strategy on malaria, tuberculosis elimination
The Lagos State Government has reaffirmed health security as a core legacy agenda and intensified its digital-driven approach to malaria and tuberculosis elimination, digitising 514 private healthcare providers and recording
The Lagos State Government has reaffirmed health security as a core legacy agenda and intensified its digital-driven approach to malaria and tuberculosis elimination, digitising 514 private healthcare providers and recording a malaria positivity rate of five per cent.
This event, which was held at Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, brought together government officials, national programme leaders and private sector partners to advance a dual elimination strategy for malaria and tuberculosis.
Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the initiative reflects the administration’s commitment to safeguarding public health through innovation and partnerships.
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Barr. Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin, Sanwo-Olu noted that malaria remains a leading cause of illness and death, particularly among women and children, stressing that the digitisation of over 400 private health providers and improved care for more than 18,000 patients has demonstrated how technology can transform disease surveillance and case management.
“Public health progress is accelerated when government enables innovation through partnerships,” he said, adding that the tuberculosis diagnostic access programme being launched would help find missing cases and strengthen linkage to care.
The governor said his administration is focused on building sustainable, data-driven health systems beyond political cycles, urging residents to embrace early testing and support healthcare workers.
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The Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, described the event as both a culmination of reforms and the beginning of a more ambitious phase in Lagos’ health systems transformation.
Presenting an overview of the Lagos Malaria Pre-Elimination and Digitisation Project, Abayomi said that malaria prevalence in the state dropped from 15 per cent in 2010 to 2.6 per cent by 2022, even as health facilities continued to report high malaria cases, a situation he described as the “malaria paradox”.
He said Lagos expanded surveillance into the private sector, where over 60 per cent of residents seek care. In 2025 alone, more than 500 facilities tested over 77,000 fever cases using validated rapid diagnostic tests, leading to malaria positivity rates falling below one per cent in March 2025 and stabilising between four and five per cent during peak months.
Abayomi disclosed that partnership with Maisha Meds transformed 514 community pharmacies and patent medicine vendors into digitised service nodes, enabling over 80,000 diagnostic tests and confirming that about 95 per cent of fever cases in Lagos are not malaria.
On tuberculosis, the commissioner said Lagos accounts for nine per cent of Nigeria’s TB burden, with over 66 per cent of cases remaining undiagnosed annually. To bridge the gap, he announced the deployment of the PlusLife MiniDock, a portable, non-sputum molecular diagnostic platform, through the digitally enabled provider network.
He also outlined broader reforms, including infrastructure upgrades, domestication of the National Health Insurance Authority Act, establishment of a University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and expansion of public health digital platforms to support data-driven decision-making.
