The Lagos State Government has announced a major shift in fever management, revealing that only about five per cent of fever cases in the state are caused by malaria. The government has directed healthcare providers to adopt evidence-based diagnosis by confirming malaria through Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) before treatment.
Speaking at the dissemination meeting of the World Bank-supported IMPACT Project in Ikeja, Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the era of treating every fever as malaria is over. He noted that the new approach has significantly reduced misdiagnosis and improved patient care, adding that Lagos has already instructed public health facilities to treat only confirmed malaria cases.
Abayomi disclosed that the state’s malaria prevalence dropped to 2.6 per cent in 2025, positioning Lagos on the path to malaria pre-elimination. He credited the IMPACT Project, implemented by the Society for Family Health in partnership with the Lagos State Ministry of Health, for strengthening malaria diagnosis, healthcare worker capacity, surveillance and community awareness across the state.
