Roche Diagnostics is urging Nigeria to accelerate the integration of tuberculosis testing into broader laboratory systems, arguing that a shift toward high-throughput, multi-disease diagnostics is critical to sustaining progress against one of the country’s deadliest infectious diseases.
In a statement issued to mark World TB Day, Roberto Taboada, Network Head for Anglo-West Africa at Roche Diagnostics, said Nigeria’s tuberculosis response has entered a new phase, where expanded screening must be matched by faster and more efficient case confirmation.
Nigeria remains among the countries with the highest tuberculosis burden globally, placing strain on patients, frontline health workers and public finances.
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Yet recent years have delivered measurable gains. In 2020, the number of TB cases reported nationally rose by 15 percent, according to data cited from BMJ Journals, a sign that intensified case-finding efforts and wider access to screening are yielding results.
The next challenge, Taboada argued, is ensuring that diagnostic systems can cope with higher testing volumes while delivering accurate and timely results.
“Diagnostic systems must increase the pace, confirm more patients’ statuses, and do so accurately and at scale,” he wrote.
The company is advocating a move away from siloed disease programmes — where tuberculosis, HIV and other conditions operate under separate funding streams and laboratory infrastructure — toward integrated platforms capable of processing multiple tests from a single sample.
Under such an approach, one blood draw could generate results for tuberculosis and other comorbidities, such as HIV, improving efficiency and reducing duplication in laboratory networks.
Integration, Taboada argues, would allow Nigeria to leverage existing infrastructure more effectively while lowering per-test costs over time.
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The push aligns with guidance from the World Health Organisation, which has endorsed integrated and high-throughput diagnostics as a means of strengthening case detection and improving programme efficiency, particularly in high-burden and resource-constrained settings.
The timing is significant. Global health funding is tightening, forcing governments to prioritise cost-effective and scalable solutions.
For countries like Nigeria, where healthcare resources are stretched, policymakers are increasingly focused on extracting greater value from existing laboratory systems.
Taboada said Nigerian health authorities are showing “renewed focus on efficiency,” noting greater openness to public-private partnerships that align with national TB programme goals.
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Industry players, governments and national disease programmes, he argued, each bring complementary strengths that can be harnessed to build more sustainable systems.
For Roche, which manufactures diagnostic equipment used globally, the call for integration also reflects broader shifts in laboratory medicine, where automation and consolidated platforms are replacing fragmented testing models.
Nigeria’s strategy will be closely watched across sub-Saharan Africa, where tuberculosis remains endemic and health systems face similar fiscal and operational constraints.
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As the country works toward the WHO’s 2030 health targets, Taboada expressed cautious optimism that sustained reforms in diagnostics could turn tuberculosis from a persistent public health emergency into a manageable condition.
“Strengthening TB diagnostics is not only about expanding access,” he wrote. “By focusing on integration, efficiency and alignment with national priorities, Nigeria is building a more resilient approach to TB control.”
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