- Lagos Rolls Out Community-Based TB Diagnostics to Close 66% Detection Gap
- Akin Abayomi stressed the urgency of the intervention, noting that Lagos accounts for nine per cent of Nigeria’s TB burden
- Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu highlighted the administration’s commitment to ensuring residents’ health and leaving no citizen behind
Lagos State has introduced community-based molecular tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics to tackle a 66 per cent detection gap, aiming to identify undiagnosed cases and curb ongoing transmission.
Eko Hot Blog reports that the initiative was unveiled at a high-level event organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Health in Ikeja, bringing together government officials, national programme leaders, and private sector partners.
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Held in collaboration with Maisha Meds, the event carried the theme: “Scaling Digital Health Innovations in Lagos – Leveraging Proven Private Sector Frameworks for National Health Security”, with the tagline “Malaria & Tuberculosis: A Dual Disease Elimination Agenda for Lagos State.”
Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, stressed the urgency of the intervention, noting that Lagos accounts for nine per cent of Nigeria’s TB burden. In the second quarter of 2025, only 3,565 of an estimated 6,038 cases were detected, leaving more than 66 per cent undiagnosed.
To bridge this gap, the state is deploying the PlusLifeMiniDock, a portable, non-sputum molecular diagnostic platform, through an existing digitally enabled provider network. “Rather than building a parallel structure, we will leverage established infrastructure to decentralise precise TB diagnostics into communities and improve early detection,” Abayomi said.
He explained that the scale-up draws lessons from the Lagos Malaria Pre-Elimination and Digitisation Project, which reduced malaria prevalence from 15 per cent in 2010 to 2.6 per cent in 2022 by integrating over 500 private facilities into a digital surveillance network. In 2025, more than 77,000 fever cases were tested, revealing that 95 per cent were not malaria, a discrepancy known as the “malaria paradox.”
Through the partnership with Maisha Meds, 514 community pharmacies and patent medicine vendors were digitised to provide coordinated diagnostic services. More than 80,000 tests confirmed low malaria transmission, while a digital referral system ensures non-malaria cases, including TB, are tracked and linked to appropriate care.
Abayomi also outlined broader reforms, including healthcare infrastructure upgrades, implementation of the National Health Insurance Authority Act, establishment of a new University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and expansion of a public health information platform to digitise the state’s healthcare ecosystem. “Data remains central to informed decision-making, policy development, and resource allocation,” he said.
Secretary to the State Government, Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin, representing Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, highlighted the administration’s commitment to ensuring residents’ health and leaving no citizen behind.
Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Health Service Commission, Abimbola Mabogunje, representing the First Lady, stressed that early, accurate, and accessible diagnosis is critical to disease elimination, advocating for integrated malaria and TB diagnostic services, stronger laboratory systems, and sustainable funding.
Amobi Ogah, Chairman of the House Committee on Infectious Diseases at the Federal House of Representatives, praised Lagos for leveraging malaria surveillance to expand TB diagnostics, noting that successful implementation could serve as a model for the entire country.
