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| L-r: Managing Director, Society for Family Health (SFH), Advisory, Dr. Jennifer Anyati; Executive Secretary HEFAMAA, Dr. Victoria Egunjobi; Group Managing Director, (SFH), Omokhudu Idogho; Honourable Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Prof. Akin Abayomi; Task Team Leader, Impact Project and Senior Health Specialist, World Bank, Dr. Onoriode Ezire and Ag. Director, Disease Control, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Abosede Wellington at the Malaria IMPACT Project Dissemination Meeting held at Legend Hotel, Ikeja on Friday. |
•Only 5% of Fever Cases Are Malaria in Lagos — Abayomi
•Laments Misdiagnosis Killing Patients, Orders Evidence-Based Fever Treatment
The Lagos State Government has announced a major shift in fever management, revealing that 95 percent of fever cases are not caused by malaria, and directing healthcare providers to stop treating patients without confirmed laboratory diagnosis.
Health Commissioner, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said evidence from the World Bank-supported IMPACT Project showed that only about five per cent of fever cases in Lagos are malaria, overturning decades of routine presumptive treatment.
Abayomi declared that all public primary and secondary health facilities must treat malaria only after positive Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) results, describing the policy as a life-saving departure from assumption-based medical practice.
He warned that the longstanding practice of equating every fever with malaria has fuelled widespread misdiagnosis, delayed treatment of other life-threatening illnesses and contributed to avoidable deaths.
According to the commissioner, inspections conducted after the policy was introduced recorded a sharp decline in malaria diagnoses, confirming that evidence-based testing is improving clinical decision-making across public health facilities.
He said the findings mark a new era in healthcare delivery, where diagnosis must precede treatment, adding that the evidence generated in Lagos could reshape fever management across Nigeria and West Africa.
Presenting the scientific findings, malaria researcher Prof. Wellington Oyibo disclosed that malaria positivity among fever patients stood at approximately five per cent, while microscopy detected only about 2.4 per cent infection.
He said quality-assured Rapid Diagnostic Tests demonstrated about 98.5 per cent sensitivity, making them reliable tools for routine malaria diagnosis and future malaria elimination planning.
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| L-r: Executive Secretary HEFAMAA, Dr. Victoria Egunjobi; Managing Director, Society for Family Health (SFH), Advisory, Dr. Jennifer Anyati; Group Managing Director, (SFH), Omokhudu Idogho; Honourable Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Prof. Akin Abayomi; Task Team Leader, Impact Project and Senior Health Specialist, World Bank, Dr. Onoriode Ezire; and Ag. Director Disease Control, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Abosede Wellington at the Malaria IMPACT Project Dissemination Meeting held at Legend Hotel, Ikeja, on Friday. |
Group Chief Executive Officer of the Society for Family Health, Dr. Omokhudu Idogho, said the project changed clinical behaviour by promoting testing before treatment, warning that treating every fever as malaria leads to missed diagnoses and poor patient outcomes.
The project supported malaria diagnosis for more than two million patients, provided free treatment for over 50,000 confirmed cases and reduced malaria test positivity from 43 per cent to 29.2 per cent.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Dayo Lajide, said malaria prevalence in the state has fallen to about 2.6 per cent in 2025, placing Lagos firmly on the path to malaria pre-elimination.
Stakeholders resolved to sustain the gains through stronger surveillance, continuous healthcare worker training, improved diagnostic capacity, uninterrupted commodity supply and strict adherence to evidence-based malaria case management.
