Nigeria recorded 102,025 new HIV infections across its 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2025, with Lagos State accounting for the highest number of new cases, according to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s State of the Health of the Nation Report 2025.
The report revealed that Lagos recorded 10,430 new HIV infections, the highest in the country during the year. Rivers State followed with 6,287 cases, while Kano recorded 6,106 new infections.
Other states with high numbers of new HIV cases included Akwa Ibom (5,413), Taraba (4,854), Benue (4,804), Anambra (4,468), Kaduna (3,659), Adamawa (2,989) and the Federal Capital Territory (2,764).
States that also recorded more than 2,000 new infections were Cross River (2,595), Sokoto (2,592), Abia (2,546), Imo (2,537), Delta (2,469), Borno (2,311), Ogun (2,107), Plateau (2,084), Niger (2,020) and Ebonyi (2,015).
At the lower end of the scale, Ekiti recorded the fewest new infections with 462 cases, followed by Bayelsa (982), Gombe (1,083), Osun (1,093), Kwara (1,371), Enugu (1,429), Yobe (1,483), Katsina (1,541) and Kebbi (1,572).
The report underscores that HIV remains a major public health challenge in Nigeria despite years of efforts to expand access to treatment and reduce AIDS-related deaths.
Nigeria operates one of the world’s largest HIV treatment programmes, with millions of people living with the virus receiving antiretroviral therapy through government-supported health facilities and donor-funded initiatives.
However, public health experts continue to warn that reducing new infections remains a significant challenge, particularly among young people, adolescent girls and young women, infants exposed to HIV, and other high-risk populations.
In recent years, the Federal Government, through the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), has intensified efforts to curb the spread of HIV by expanding free testing services, increasing access to antiretroviral drugs, strengthening Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programmes, promoting pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for high-risk groups, improving public awareness campaigns and enhancing disease surveillance through digital health systems.
The government has also adopted the global 95-95-95 targets, which aim to ensure that 95 per cent of people living with HIV know their status, 95 per cent of those diagnosed receive sustained treatment, and 95 per cent of those on treatment achieve viral suppression.
Health authorities say meeting these targets is critical to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Speaking during the launch of the 2025 Global AIDS Update on July 10, 2025, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima warned that although the world has made significant progress in reducing HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths, those gains remain fragile.
She noted that about 1.3 million people acquired HIV globally in 2024 and stressed the need for sustained investment in prevention, testing and treatment programmes.
Earlier, during a Multistakeholder Consultation on the Global AIDS Strategy held on April 28, 2025, Byanyima cautioned that the HIV epidemic was “not over” and urged governments to strengthen domestic financing to sustain prevention efforts.
Similarly, NACA Director-General, Dr. Temitope Ilori, has repeatedly called for increased domestic funding and stronger community-led interventions to sustain Nigeria’s HIV response.
She maintained that the country remains committed to reducing new infections by expanding access to testing, treatment and prevention services while strengthening the national health system.
Public health experts have also warned that declining international donor funding could reverse decades of progress if governments fail to increase domestic investment in HIV programmes.
According to UNAIDS, disruptions to HIV prevention services could trigger a rise in new infections, particularly in high-burden countries such as Nigeria.
Despite notable progress over the years, the 102,025 new HIV infections recorded in 2025 highlight that the fight against the epidemic remains far from over.
