By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
The Federal Government has said it is committed to achieving the global target of ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Iziaq Salako, stated this on Monday, December 1, at the State House, during the national commemoration to mark the 2025 World AIDS Day, with the theme ‘Overcoming Disruptions; Sustaining Nigeria’s HIV Response.’
At the event, organised in collaboration with the First Lady’s Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), Salako noted that the government had introduced several programmes and invested more than N300 billion to strengthen the HIV/AIDS response and supported health agencies nationwide.
He further stated that Nigeria had increased domestic funding for HIV interventions to reduce dependency on foreign aid, with expanded local production of antiretroviral drugs and test kits aimed at improving national self-sufficiency and long-term sustainability.
The minister said HIV testing, counselling, and treatment coverage continued to expand, with about 1.6 million Nigerians currently on antiretroviral therapy out of an estimated 1.9 million people living with the virus nationwide.
In her remarks, the wife of the president, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, said the country had recorded notable progress in HIV prevention, treatment, and care, and urged continued commitment to ensure all Nigerians have access to lifesaving services.
She stressed that ending AIDS required compassion, innovation, and continuous advocacy, noting that it was imperative to tackle persistent stigma and discrimination and that every Nigerian deserved dignity and non-judgmental access to healthcare.
Mrs Tinubu noted that national efforts over the past year had focused on eliminating vertical transmission, expanding paediatric HIV treatment, and advancing local sustainability of the HIV response across all states.
She lauded the continued support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; the National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control Programme (NASCP); and the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).
Faulting that Nigeria’s response to HIV/AIDS remained heavily donor-funded despite shifting global financing trends, the president’s wife called for increased local investment to prevent disruptions to critical HIV services.
Director-General of NACA, Dr Temitope Ilori, said stigma was gradually decreasing, and Nigeria was on track to end AIDS as a public health threat, despite recent global and economic disruptions.
Ilori noted that challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, economic fluctuations, and declining donor support, had strengthened Nigeria’s resolve to build a more self-reliant, sustainable, and homegrown HIV response.
She stated that adult HIV prevalence had dropped to 1.4 per cent, reflecting progress made through improved access to treatment and testing.
