A new $1 testing package could give Nigeria a cheaper way to screen pregnant women for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B, as the country grapples with low antenatal testing for hepatitis B.
The package, launched by Premier Medical Corporation and Impact Nexus Africa, combines two rapid diagnostic tests under one commercial offer for use through existing antenatal care services.
The companies have identified Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique and South Africa as high-volume markets with significant potential for antenatal hepatitis B screening.
The Triple Elimination Testing Bundle costs $1 per woman screened on an ex-works basis. It contains a WHO-prequalified rapid test that checks for HIV and syphilis at the same time, alongside a separate hepatitis B surface antigen test. Digital training and competency tools for health workers are included in the offer.
The price, however, does not cover freight, local distribution, taxes, regulatory charges or other implementation expenses. Purchasers must also order at least 100,000 bundles.
The companies estimate that the package could cut commodity costs by between 22 and 46 per cent compared with buying equivalent HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B rapid tests separately.
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Across 74 low- and middle-income countries, they project that the model could save about $215 million in commodity costs between 2026 and 2035. They also estimate that wider adoption could identify about 17.1 million hepatitis B-positive pregnancies and help avert roughly 2.7 million infant infections during the period.
Those figures are projections, not guaranteed savings or health outcomes for Nigeria. Actual benefits would depend on procurement prices, testing volumes, screening uptake, local disease prevalence and whether women who test positive receive the necessary care.
That distinction matters in Nigeria, where the main challenge is not only about the price of a test but also about whether pregnant women can reach antenatal services and receive the full chain of care after screening.
A 2026 analysis of Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey data cited by the companies found that 72 per cent of mothers attended antenatal care, yet only 12.3 per cent were tested for hepatitis B during pregnancy. Earlier national data showed an even lower screening rate of 7.2 per cent among about 2.8 million pregnant women who received antenatal care through more than 6,000 facilities offering prevention-of-mother-to-child-transmission services.
The gap is significant because hepatitis B can pass from mother to child around the time of birth. Detecting infection during pregnancy gives health workers an opportunity to assess the mother and arrange interventions that reduce the risk to the newborn.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that pregnant women be tested for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B surface antigen at least once during pregnancy, preferably as early as possible. WHO’s current triple-elimination framework also calls for testing to be linked with treatment, prevention, infant follow-up and other maternal health services.
Nigeria’s opportunity, therefore, lies in using antenatal care as a single entry point for several infections instead of creating separate systems for each disease.
The Federal Government has previously indicated plans to strengthen hepatitis B testing, treatment and care for pregnant women who test positive. The proposed $1 package could support that effort by lowering the commodity cost of adding hepatitis B screening to existing HIV and syphilis services.
But a cheap test is only the first step. A positive result must lead to proper counselling, clinical assessment, preventive treatment where indicated and appropriate care for the newborn. WHO recommends antiviral prophylaxis for pregnant women with high hepatitis B viral loads, alongside timely hepatitis B vaccination for infants.
The significance of the new bundle will therefore be measured less by its $1 price tag than by how effectively the country can turn antenatal visits into opportunities to detect infection, protect babies and connect affected mothers to care.
