Medical doctors have attributed the rise in new Human Immunodeficiency Virus infections in Nigeria to declining donor funding, worsening poverty, and reduced awareness campaigns around the infection.
They warned that the cut in funding, poverty, and reduced awareness campaigns are threatening the country’s progress in HIV prevention and control, and could reverse years of gains made in the fight against HIV.
The physicians noted that reductions in donor funding have affected the availability of prevention programmes and testing services, while economic hardship has increased vulnerability to risky behaviours that fuel HIV transmission.
PUNCH Healthwise reports that a total of 102,025 new HIV infections were recorded across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in 2025, according to data obtained from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s State of the Health of the Nation Report 2025.
The World Health Organisation says HIV has no cure, and it is only treated with antiretroviral drugs to stop the virus from replicating in the body.
