Nigeria Records 102,025 New HIV Infections in 2025 as Lagos Tops National Burden
Lagos State recorded the highest number of new HIV infections in Nigeria in 2025, with 10,430 fresh 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 102,025 new HIV infections were recorded across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory during the year, highlighting that HIV remains a major public health challenge despite ongoing Government interventions and expanded access to treatment.
According to the data, Rivers State ranked second with 6,287 new infections, followed by Kano with 6,106 cases. Other States with high infection rates 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).
Several other States also reported more than 2,000 new infections, including 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, while Bayelsa (982), Gombe (1,083), Osun (1,093), Kwara (1,371), Enugu (1,429), Yobe (1,483), Katsina (1,541) and Kebbi (1,572) also posted relatively lower figures.
Global Mirror News reports that Nigeria continues to operate one of the world’s largest HIV treatment programmes, providing millions of people living with HIV access to life-saving antiretroviral therapy through Government Health facilities and donor-supported initiatives.
However, Health Experts have warned that preventing new infections remains one of the Country’s biggest challenges, particularly among young people, adolescent girls and young women, infants exposed to HIV, and other vulnerable populations.
To combat the spread of the virus, the Federal Government, through the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), has intensified HIV prevention efforts 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, enhancing public awareness campaigns and improving disease surveillance through digital health systems.
Nigeria has also aligned with the global 95-95-95 HIV 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 achieving these targets is critical to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Speaking during the launch of the 2025 Global AIDS Update, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima stressed that while the world has made significant progress in reducing HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths, global gains remain fragile.
She noted that approximately 1.3 million people contracted HIV worldwide in 2024, warning that continued investment in prevention, testing and treatment remains essential.
Similarly, NACA Director-General, Dr. Temitope Ilori, has consistently called for stronger domestic funding and community-driven interventions to sustain Nigeria’s HIV response, noting that the country remains committed to reducing new infections through improved access to testing, treatment and prevention services.
Public health experts have also expressed concerns that declining international donor support could reverse decades of progress if governments fail to increase domestic investment in HIV programmes.
The latest report indicates that while Nigeria has recorded significant improvements over the years, the 102,025 new HIV infections reported in 2025 underscore that the epidemic remains a serious public health concern, with Lagos, Rivers and Kano accounting for a significant share of the Country’s new cases.
