Plateau Boosts Healthcare with New Capacity-building Drive for Quality Malaria Diagnosis

Yemi Kosoko in Jos

Stakeholders across Nigeria have called for stronger diagnostic capacity and improved professional skills to tackle malaria, as Plateau State hosted a four day national training aimed at upgrading laboratory standards and strengthening healthcare delivery.

The capacity building engagement held in Jos brought together health professionals from Plateau, Kebbi, and Benue States for refresher training and External Quality Assessment (EQA) on malaria diagnosis.

The initiative is supported by the U.S. Department of State through the PMI REACH Malaria Project.

Professor Christopher Yilgwam, Chief Medical Director of Plateau State Specialist Hospital, said the program is critical to reducing maternal and child deaths linked to malaria.

“As a paediatrician, I know the number of women we’ve lost in pregnancy and also the number of children I have also lost, especially infants to malaria,” he said, emphasizing the importance of strengthening diagnostic quality.

He noted that Plateau’s investment in health infrastructure has positioned the state as a national reference point.

“We now have one of the best Pharma Great stores in terms of drug and medical commodity management,” he said, adding the state has fully operationalized its Basic Health Care Fund and expanded digital enrolment for the elderly.

Program Coordinator of the Plateau State Malaria Elimination Program, Nurse Ndak Kazito, highlighted the significance of the upgraded laboratory facilities.

“The quality of the microscopes and the upgrade that has been done is so marvelous,” he said, noting that national facilitators were impressed by the standards achieved under the administration of Governor Caleb Mutfwang.

Kazito added the training will empower laboratory scientists to improve malaria diagnosis across hospitals and primary health centres, ensuring peer review and knowledge transfer to colleagues who could not attend.

The PMI REACH Malaria project, a five year initiative, aims to strengthen malaria service delivery from national to community levels. It builds on 15 years of U.S. government investment in malaria diagnostics and case management.

Senior Diagnostic Specialist for the REACH Project, Ojo Abiodun, explained that the training is part of a broader mandate to enhance diagnostic accuracy.

“No test, no adequate malaria treatment. If laboratory services give you poor results, the number of people that will die every second will increase,” he said.

He noted that participants were selected based on previous performance and will form part of a high level quality assurance team responsible for quarterly assessments across facilities.

“To deliver what you don’t have, you don’t give,” he said, stressing the need for competence in identifying true malaria parasites and supporting community level testing.

Abiodun praised Plateau State for providing an enabling environment and high standard facilities. “When we entered as facilitators, we didn’t expect what we saw,” he said. “The donors will be very happy to see that their investment is yielding results.”

Stakeholders agreed that strengthening diagnostic capacity, improving case management, and expanding community level services are essential to accelerating malaria elimination in Nigeria.