Health experts and development partners have raised fresh concerns over gaps in Nigeria’s HIV response, warning that thousands of children remain undiagnosed and untreated despite ongoing interventions across the country.
The stakeholders sounded the alarm on Wednesday in Abuja during the 2026 Paediatric Breakthrough Partnership Linking and Learning Meeting convened by the Society for Family Health in collaboration with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
Speaking at the meeting, the Chief Executive Officer of the Society for Family Health, Yusuf Dayyabu, lamented that too many children were still being left behind in the country’s HIV response.
“Too many children continue to be missed. Too many infants do not receive early diagnosis, and too many opportunities to prevent transmission are lost,” he said.
Data presented at the meeting indicated that about 285,000 children, adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women had accessed HIV services since 2023, with only 2,879 identified and enrolled for treatment.
Despite these efforts, Nigeria still bears one of the highest burdens of paediatric HIV globally, with an estimated 260,000 children aged between zero and 14 years living with the virus.
However, only about 45 per cent of these children are currently on antiretroviral therapy, significantly lower than adult treatment coverage.
The National Coordinator of the National AIDS, Viral Hepatitis and STIs Control Programme, Adebobola Bashorun, described the situation as both a public health and moral crisis.
Represented by Iyaniwura Ozimede, Bashorun stressed that children remain among the most vulnerable.
“Some of the most vulnerable are those who had no choice in their exposure — our children. This is not just programmatic; it is deeply human,” she said.
While acknowledging progress in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, she warned that critical gaps persist across the care continuum.
“Too many HIV-positive pregnant women are still not being reached, particularly in hard-to-reach communities. Too many HIV-exposed infants are lost to follow-up, and too many children remain undiagnosed,” she added.
Also speaking, the Country Lead of the Paediatric Breakthrough Partnership, Aisha Dadi, said children were often harder to diagnose because they depend entirely on adults for access to healthcare.
She noted that targeted interventions, including collaboration with traditional birth attendants and community actors, had improved treatment coverage to between 60 and 65 per cent in some locations.
Stakeholders at the meeting, however, cautioned that over-reliance on donor funding could undermine long-term sustainability of HIV programmes if not matched with increased domestic investment.
Dayyabu emphasised the need for stronger government ownership and funding, describing it as a strategic necessity.
“The future of our HIV response must increasingly rely on domestic resources and government ownership. This is more than a financial necessity; it is a strategic imperative,” he said.
Nigeria continues to record a high number of new HIV infections among children annually, largely driven by gaps in prevention of mother-to-child transmission.
Experts at the meeting called for urgent scale-up of early diagnosis, improved follow-up systems, and community-based interventions to ensure that no child living with HIV is left behind.
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