Lagos State has launched community-based molecular tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics in response to a 66 per cent detection gap, aiming to find missing cases and curb ongoing transmission.

The initiative was unveiled at a high-level convening organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Health in Ikeja, bringing together government officials, national programme leaders, and private sector partners. The event, held in collaboration with Maisha Meds, was themed “Scaling Digital Health Innovations in Lagos – Leveraging Proven Private Sector Frameworks for National Health Security” and tagged “Malaria & Tuberculosis: A Dual Disease Elimination Agenda for Lagos State.”

Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, highlighted 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 address this, 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 TB scale-up draws lessons from the Lagos Malaria Pre-Elimination and Digitisation Project, where data-driven surveillance reduced malaria prevalence from 15 per cent in 2010 to 2.6 per cent in 2022, despite facilities continuing to report high case numbers — a discrepancy termed the “malaria paradox.” By integrating over 500 private facilities into a digital surveillance network, Lagos tested more than 77,000 fever cases in 2025, revealing that approximately 95 per cent of febrile cases were not malaria.

Through the partnership with Maisha Meds, 514 community pharmacies and patent medicine vendors were digitised, enabling coordinated diagnostic services. More than 80,000 tests conducted under this framework affirmed Lagos’ low malaria transmission, while a digital referral system ensures non-malaria cases are tracked and linked to appropriate care.

Abayomi further outlined broader reforms, including infrastructure upgrades, domestication of the National Health Insurance Authority Act, the establishment of a new University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and expansion of a public health information platform to digitise the entire 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, said the event underscored the administration’s commitment to safeguarding residents’ health and ensuring no citizen is left behind.

The Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Health Service Commission, Abimbola Mabogunje, representing the First Lady, emphasised that early, accurate, and accessible diagnosis is critical to disease elimination. She advocated for aligned malaria and TB diagnostic services, stronger laboratory systems, and sustainable funding to maximise impact.

Chairman of the House Committee on Infectious Diseases at the Federal House of Representatives, Amobi Ogah, praised Lagos for leveraging malaria surveillance gains to expand TB diagnostics, noting that successful implementation could benefit the entire country.