Nigeria recorded 102,025 new HIV infections across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in 2025, with Lagos State emerging as the state with 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 figures paint a sobering picture of a virus that continues to quietly affect thousands of Nigerians despite years of expanded access to treatment, free testing and nationwide awareness campaigns.
According to the report, Lagos recorded 10,430 new HIV infections, the highest in the country. It was followed by Rivers with 6,287 cases and Kano with 6,106.
Other states with high numbers of new infections include 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 with more than 2,000 new infections also included 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 other end of the scale, Ekiti recorded the lowest number with 462 new infections, 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 latest figures highlight that HIV remains a major public health challenge in Nigeria, even as the country operates one of the world’s largest HIV treatment programmes. Millions of people living with the virus continue to receive life-saving antiretroviral therapy through government-supported health facilities and donor-funded interventions.
Health experts, however, warn that reducing new infections remains one of Nigeria’s toughest challenges, particularly among young people, adolescent girls, young women, infants exposed to HIV and other vulnerable populations.
To tackle the epidemic, the Federal Government, through the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), has expanded free HIV testing, improved access to antiretroviral drugs, strengthened Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission programmes, promoted pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for high-risk groups, intensified public awareness campaigns and upgraded digital health surveillance systems.
Nigeria has also aligned with the global 95-95-95 targets, which seek 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 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 remarkable progress in reducing HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths, the gains remain fragile.
She noted that about 1.3 million people acquired HIV globally in 2024, stressing that sustained investment in prevention, testing and treatment remains critical to ending the epidemic.
Similarly, NACA Director-General, Dr. Temitope Ilori, has repeatedly called for stronger domestic financing and community-led interventions, warning that reduced international donor support could reverse decades of progress in Nigeria’s HIV response.
The report concludes that while Nigeria has made significant progress over the years, the 102,025 new HIV infections recorded in 2025 show the epidemic is far from over, with Lagos, Rivers and Kano accounting for a significant share of the country’s newly reported cases.
