State-of-the-art laboratory enhances Madagascar’s polio response

 

A new state-of-the-art laboratory has bolstered Madagascar’s efforts to survey and detect polioviruses and effectively respond to the threat of the disease and protect children from its devastating impacts. 

The laboratory, which is fully accredited by World Health Organization (WHO), was handed over today to the national authorities. Hosted at the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar in the capital, Antananarivo, the laboratory reinforces the country’s position as a regional pillar in rapid poliovirus detection and outbreak response.

“This commissioning symbolizes our collective commitment. It brings us closer to a future where no child in Madagascar—or anywhere—is at risk of polio,” said Dr Nely Alphonse José, head of plague, emerging and neglected tropical disease control department at the Ministry of Public Health. 

Established in 2023, the laboratory has significantly enhanced Madagascar’s ability to rapidly detect poliovirus through both acute flaccid paralysis and environmental surveillance. Between 2022 and 2024, the laboratory detected more than 40 cases of circulating variant poliovirus type 1, enabling immediate and targeted immunization responses. The efforts played a key role in halting an outbreak of circulating variant poliovirus type 1. In May 2025, Madagascar marked two full years without any new detections of the virus, which meant the outbreak was declared closed after a thorough assessment. 

“This laboratory is not only a national asset—it’s a regional resource,” said Dr Laurent Musango, WHO Representative in Madagascar. “With strengthened capacity and cutting-edge technology, Madagascar is now even better positioned to lead the charge against poliovirus transmission in Eastern and Southern Africa.”

The handing over of the laboratory to the government marks a major step towards sustainable, country-led polio surveillance and self-sufficiency in managing future outbreaks and ensures strong measures are in place to sustain the country’s polio-free status and contribute to the global goal of ending polio once and for all.

Thanks to ongoing collaboration between national health authorities, WHO, and with support from the Gates Foundation, the laboratory has also joined pilot projects to deploy innovative tools such as direct detection through Nanopore sequencing – a new technology that boosts the speed and accuracy of viral identification, eliminating previous delays when samples had to be shipped abroad for genomic sequencing.

WHO and its partners provided technical support, training, IT upgrades and environmental site optimization to strengthen the laboratory’s operations—reinforcing national efforts to meet the objectives of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Accredited for viral isolation, intratypic differentiation and environmental surveillance, the laboratory is now a cornerstone in Madagascar’s integrated disease surveillance system. It ensures timely data to guide vaccination campaigns and outbreak responses across the country.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) – Madagascar.