The Lagos State Government has intensified its digital health reforms with a dual strategy targeting malaria and tuberculosis elimination, digitising more than 500 private health providers and recording a malaria positivity rate of five per cent in the state.
The Lagos State Ministry of Health announced the initiative on Wednesday during a high-level stakeholders’ meeting in Ikeja themed “Scaling Digital Health Innovations in Lagos – Leveraging Proven Private Sector Frameworks for National Health Security.”
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Barr. Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin, said the initiative underscored the administration’s commitment to protecting residents and strengthening health security.
“Malaria remains a leading cause of illness and death, particularly among women and children. The digitisation of private health providers and improved care for thousands of patients demonstrate how technology can transform surveillance and case management,” the governor said.
He added that, “Public health progress is accelerated when government enables innovation through partnerships. Our focus is to build lasting systems beyond political cycles, creating a proactive, data-driven health system where no community is invisible and no citizen is forgotten.”
Sanwo-Olu also described the tuberculosis diagnostic access programme as a decisive step toward identifying missing cases and strengthening linkage to care, urging Lagosians to embrace early testing and support healthcare workers.
In his opening remarks, Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the event marked “the culmination of a transformative chapter and the deliberate commencement of a more ambitious phase in our health systems reform agenda.”
Presenting data from the Lagos Malaria Pre-Elimination and Digitisation Project, Abayomi said malaria prevalence dropped from 15 per cent in 2010 to 2.6 per cent in 2022, but clinical diagnosis remained high, creating what he called “the malaria paradox.”
“We expanded surveillance into the private sector, where over 60 per cent of residents seek care. Once testing became mandatory before treatment, malaria positivity dropped below one per cent in March 2025 and remained between four and five per cent in peak months,” he said.
He disclosed that Lagos, through partnership with Maisha Meds, digitised 514 community pharmacies and patent medicine vendors, enabling over 80,000 diagnostic tests. “This affirms Lagos State’s status as a low-transmission setting. Approximately 95 per cent of fever cases in Lagos are not malaria,” Abayomi noted.
On tuberculosis, the commissioner warned that Lagos accounts for nine per cent of Nigeria’s TB burden, with more than 66 per cent of cases undiagnosed annually.
“Persistent transmission continues because many cases remain undetected. We are deploying the PlusLife MiniDock portable diagnostic platform through our digitally enabled provider network to close this gap,” he said.
He further outlined reforms including infrastructure upgrades, domestication of the National Health Insurance Authority Act, establishment of a University of Medicine and Health Sciences, and expansion of a public health information platform.
“Data is critical for informed decision-making, policy development and resource allocation,” he stressed.
Representing the First Lady of Lagos State, Dr. (Mrs.) Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Health Service Commission, Dr. Abimbola Mabogunje, said early and accurate diagnosis remained key to disease elimination.
“We must strengthen laboratory systems and secure sustainable funding to achieve lasting impact,” she said.
Chairman of the House Committee on Infectious Diseases, Hon. Amobi Godwin Ogah, commended Lagos’ leadership, saying, “If Lagos State gets it right, Nigeria will get it right. Our committee’s mandate now extends to a broader spectrum of infectious diseases.”
In her welcome address, Jessica Vernon said the transition of the malaria PATHWAY project into the Lagos State budget signalled sustainability. “When a government invests its own resources, it shows the programme works. Lagos now qualifies as a malaria elimination zone,” she said.
National Malaria Elimination Programme Coordinator, Dr. Nnenna Ogbulafor, described the PATHWAY project as “a defining milestone in Nigeria’s malaria trajectory,” while Acting National Coordinator of the National Tuberculosis, Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Control Programme, Dr. Clement Adesigbin, urged other states to replicate Lagos’ data-driven model.
Board Chairman of Maisha Meds Nigeria, Ahmed Yakasai, underscored the importance of political will and sustainable financing for disease elimination.
The event culminated in the unveiling of the tuberculosis diagnostic scale-up initiative tagged “End TB Now,” signalling a new phase in Lagos’ integrated disease elimination drive.
Officials said the state is now shifting from malaria control to elimination and from facility-based TB diagnosis to decentralised, technology-driven detection, marking what they described as a defining moment in Lagos’ journey towards a healthier and future-ready megacity.
