MADAGASCAR UNVEILS AFRICA’S MOST ADVANCED POLIO DETECTION LAB

Madagascar launches a WHO-accredited polio lab to boosting Africa’s regional capacity for rapid virus detection and eradication efforts.

Madagascar Healthcare system Polio detection lab Polio eradication Development.
Madagascar unvails new polio detection Lab
Madagascar unvails new polio detection Lab

Madagascar has stepped into a new era of disease surveillance with the launch of a cutting-edge polio laboratory in its capital, bolstering its reputation as a regional health leader and front-runner in virus detection and outbreak response.

Located at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, the facility is not only equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, including Nanopore sequencing, but it also holds full accreditation from the World Health Organisation (WHO). This makes it one of the few laboratories on the continent capable of conducting real-time genomic analysis of poliovirus a critical tool in the global fight to end the disease.

“With strengthened capacity and cutting-edge technology,” said Laurent Musango, WHO’s representative in Madagascar. “Madagascar is now even better positioned to lead the charge against poliovirus transmission in Eastern and Southern Africa.”

Commissioned officially on Monday and handed over to national authorities, the lab marks a strategic shift toward self-reliant, country-led disease surveillance. Since its soft rollout in 2023, it has already played a pivotal role: confirming over 40 cases of circulating variant poliovirus type 1 between 2022 and 2024, prompting rapid immunisation drives that successfully halted the outbreak.

By May 2025, Madagascar celebrated two years without a single new detection a milestone that led to the formal declaration of the outbreak’s end.

“This laboratory is not just a national asset it’s a regional lifeline,” said Nely Alphonse José, who heads Madagascar’s department for plague and neglected tropical diseases. “It brings us closer to a world where no child faces the threat of polio.”

Backed by support from WHO and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the facility has undergone major upgrades, including IT systems, staff capacity development, and environmental sampling expansion. Its capabilities in viral isolation and intratypic differentiation also meet the rigorous standards set by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Comments

You must be logged in to comment.