Nigeria is facing a sharp decline in access to one of the most critical HIV-prevention tools, as new global data show a 55 per cent drop in condom distribution in the country over the past year.
The figure is contained in the World AIDS Day 2025 report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), titled “Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response,” which was unveiled on Tuesday in Geneva.
The report paints a troubling picture of a global HIV response under mounting pressure, warning that prevention, testing and community-led support systems are weakening in several regions.
According to the document, 13 countries have recorded declines in the number of people newly placed on HIV treatment. In sub-Saharan Africa, the effects are already pronounced. An estimated 450,000 women in the region have lost access to “mother mentors” — community health workers who link pregnant women and new mothers to lifesaving HIV care.
UNAIDS attributed the decline largely to abrupt funding cuts and worsening human rights conditions in some countries, which it said are eroding prevention and treatment systems at a dangerous pace.
The agency’s Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, warned that years of progress are now at risk.
“The funding crisis has exposed the fragility of the progress we fought so hard to achieve,” she said. “Behind every data point in this report are people babies missed for HIV screening, young women cut off from prevention support, and communities suddenly left without services and care. We cannot abandon them.”
The report noted that adolescent girls and young women continue to carry a disproportionate burden of the epidemic. Before the current disruption, an average of 570 new HIV infections were recorded daily among females aged 15 to 24. With prevention programmes now struggling, risks for this group are rising further.
Community-led organisations are also under severe strain. UNAIDS said more than 60 per cent of women-led groups involved in the HIV response have suspended essential services due to financial constraints, exposing vulnerable populations to greater danger.
Fresh modelling by the agency warns that if prevention efforts are not urgently restored, the world could face 3.3 million additional HIV infections between 2025 and 2030.
The report directly links the growing crisis to declining international assistance. Projections from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) indicate that global health funding could drop by 30 to 40 per cent in 2025 compared with 2023.
“The impact has been immediate and severe, especially in low- and middle-income countries highly affected by HIV,” UNAIDS stated.
The agency urged world leaders to recommit to pledges made at the G20 Summit in South Africa, calling for increased global solidarity, stronger financial support for countries dependent on external aid, investment in affordable long-acting prevention tools, and the protection of human rights.
In Nigeria, the crisis is worsened by risky sexual behaviour. An earlier survey by NOI Polls found that 72 per cent of Nigerians do not use condoms regularly, raising concerns about behavioural risks even before the current supply shortages.