The Lagos State Government says doctors should stop treating every fever as malaria. New research shows that only 5 out of every 100 fever cases in Lagos are actually caused by malaria.
Health Commissioner Prof. Akin Abayomi shared the news at a meeting in Ikeja about the IMPACT Project. The project, backed by the World Bank and run with the Society for Family Health, studied how fever is treated across Lagos.
Abayomi said health workers must now test patients before giving malaria drugs. For years, many people with fever were given malaria medicine without a test. That led to wrong treatment and, in some cases, death.
“Not every fever is malaria,” Abayomi said. “We must check first, then treat.”
Lagos has told all government clinics and hospitals: no malaria treatment unless a Rapid Diagnostic Test, or RDT, shows the patient has malaria. Since the rule started, the number of malaria cases reported has dropped sharply.
The IMPACT Project tested over 2 million patients in Lagos. Key findings:
• Malaria is rare: Only 5% of people with fever tested positive for malaria. Lab tests showed an even lower rate of 2.4%.
• Tests work well: The RDT kits used in Lagos are 98.5% accurate.
• Fewer mistakes: Because more people got tested, fewer were wrongly treated for malaria. Malaria cases dropped from 43% to 29.2% during the project.
• Overall malaria rate is low: Lagos now has a malaria rate of 2.6%, putting it close to wiping out the disease.
Other results from the project
• Trained 1,279 health workers on how to manage malaria properly.
• Tested 98.3% of suspected malaria cases in government hospitals.
• Helped more pregnant women get preventive malaria drugs, up from 25% to 93%.
• Reached over 1.38 million people with health messages. Radio and TV campaigns reached 10 million more.
• Trained local pharmacists and medicine shops to test before giving malaria drugs.
Dr. Omokhudu Idogho of the Society for Family Health said the biggest change is in how doctors think. “If we treat every fever as malaria, we miss the real illness,” he said.
Abayomi shared stories of patients who died after getting malaria drugs again and again, even though their tests were negative. “We are starting a new era,” he said. “Diagnosis must come before treatment.”
0 Comments