Diagnostic accuracy among clinical health workers in Nigeria’s public health facilities has declined, dropping from 56.2 per cent in 2023 to 46.1 per cent in 2025, a new report shows latest.

The findings are from the National Health Facility Survey, NHFS, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in Abuja on Wednesday, providing updated data on service quality and healthcare delivery nationwide overall.

The report assessed diagnostic accuracy using vignettes across five priority diseases, diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria, postpartum haemorrhage and asphyxia, and highlighted persistent gaps in healthcare delivery and clinical decision-making across the country in Nigeria.

It showed the North-East recorded the highest diagnostic accuracy at 54.3 per cent, while the South-West had the lowest at 36.7 per cent, reflecting significant regional disparities in clinical performance levels.

At the state level, Zamfara recorded the highest diagnostic accuracy at 79.0 per cent, while Osun recorded the lowest at 13.4 per cent, indicating stark differences in health worker capacity nationwide.

Further breakdown showed secondary health facilities performed better with 68.1 per cent diagnostic accuracy, compared to 44.6 per cent in primary facilities, underscoring gaps between different levels of care provision across the country.

It said by cadre, doctors recorded the highest diagnostic accuracy at 74.3 per cent, followed by nurses and midwives at 56.3 per cent, with other categories performing significantly lower overall.