Nigeria Records 22,000 New HIV Infections Among Children Annually – Don

Nigeria records an estimated 22,000 new HIV infections and 15,000 AIDS-related deaths among children annually, a Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Bingham University, Prosper Okonkwo, has disclosed.

Okonkwo, who raised the alarm over the country’s paediatric HIV burden, said about 160,000 Nigerian children aged zero to 14 are currently living with HIV.

He made the disclosure in Abuja on Thursday while delivering Bingham University’s 14th inaugural lecture titled, “Beyond Molecules: From Science to Sustainable Impact in Nigeria’s HIV Response.”

The don warned that Nigeria must urgently move its HIV response away from heavy dependence on donor funding and establish a sustainable, nationally owned system capable of protecting the gains recorded over the past two decades.

According to him, Nigeria has developed critical biomedical infrastructure through its HIV response, which must not be allowed to deteriorate whenever international funding priorities change.

He cited the country’s COVID-19 experience as evidence of the wider value of investments made through the HIV programme.

«“The laboratories we built for HIV became the backbone of Nigeria’s COVID-19 response when nothing else was ready,” he said.»

Okonkwo urged the Federal Government to formally designate laboratories and other infrastructure established through the HIV response as national health security assets, supported by sustainable funding and appropriate governance arrangements.

He said such a move would ensure that the facilities remain operational and available during future public health emergencies.

Don seeks HIV insurance coverage

The professor also called for the full integration of HIV services into Nigeria’s health insurance system, arguing that access to treatment should no longer depend largely on discretionary government allocations or changing donor priorities.

He cited Vietnam, Thailand and Rwanda as examples of countries that have increased domestic financing of their HIV responses through health insurance mechanisms.

Okonkwo noted that Nigeria already had the institutional framework required to achieve this through the National Health Insurance Authority and state health insurance schemes.

He said 21.7 million Nigerians were currently enrolled in health insurance, against a national target of 50 million enrollees by 2027.

“I recommend that HIV services be written into that benefit package as policy, with subsidised premiums and a published, multi-year timetable, not left as a discretionary line item that can quietly disappear when budgets tighten,” he said.

Paediatric treatment improves

The don also highlighted progress in paediatric HIV treatment, saying the proportion of Nigerian children requiring antiretroviral therapy who were receiving treatment had increased from 29 per cent before the deliberate national push to 74 per cent by 2024.

He called for sustained investment in paediatric antiretroviral therapy, prevention of mother-to-child transmission and early infant diagnosis.

Okonkwo, however, warned that the progress should be regarded as a foundation for further action rather than an endpoint.

He also called for deeper integration of HIV services into primary healthcare, saying Nigeria had already established the policy direction and commenced the transition of large-scale programmes from international to Nigerian implementing partners.

According to him, HIV care has also been integrated in pilot programmes with hypertension management, mental health and reproductive health services.

He described the approach as a practical means of strengthening healthcare delivery while reducing fragmentation within the health system.

‘Trust must drive HIV services’

Okonkwo further stressed the need for HIV services to be designed around trust and not merely proximity to health facilities.

He said community-based care had generally improved treatment retention but warned that physical access alone did not guarantee that patients would remain in care.

He called for differentiated service delivery models that take into account the realities of adolescents, older people, women, key populations and economically vulnerable Nigerians.

He also identified stigma and legal and social barriers as factors that could discourage people from seeking or remaining on treatment.

The professor urged the government to focus on completing and adequately funding existing policies and programmes rather than continually introducing new initiatives.

He said the five recommendations contained in his inaugural lecture were not radical proposals but measures that had already been tested and proven effective in Nigeria and other countries.

“What is missing is not knowledge. It is the will to act on what we already know,” Okonkwo said.

Nigeria needs multidimensional HIV response

Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of Bingham University, Professor Haruna Ayuba, said Nigeria’s battle against HIV/AIDS could not be won through scientific breakthroughs alone.

Ayuba called for a multidimensional response combining scientific research with policy reform, education, community engagement and stronger health systems.

He said such an approach was necessary to translate scientific discoveries into accessible diagnostics and affordable treatment suited to Nigeria’s realities.

The Vice-Chancellor also disclosed that the university’s College of Medical Sciences currently leads its academic rankings with five inaugural professors, followed by the Faculty of Social Sciences with three.

The Faculty of Administration and Faculty of Science and Technology have two inaugural professors each, while Environmental Science and Law have one each.

In separate goodwill messages, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, and the Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Dr Temitope Ilori, commended Okonkwo for the lecture.

They described the presentation as timely and insightful, noting its relevance to ongoing public discourse on HIV/AIDS and infectious disease control in Nigeria.