Thousands of Nigerian Children Still Undiagnosed With HIV — Experts

By Abah Margaret

Health experts and development partners have raised concerns that thousands of children in Nigeria are still living with undiagnosed and untreated HIV, despite ongoing national and international interventions to curb the epidemic.

The stakeholders made the disclosure on Wednesday at the 2026 Paediatric Breakthrough Partnership Linking and Learning Meeting in Abuja.

The meeting, hosted by the Society for Family Health in collaboration with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, focused on improving health outcomes for children living with HIV.

Representing the Chief Executive Officer of the Society for Family Health, Yusuf Dayyabu, said many children were still being missed in the country’s HIV response.

“Too many children are still being missed. Too many infants are not diagnosed early enough. Too many opportunities to prevent transmission are lost,” he said.

Data presented at the meeting showed that since 2023, over 285,000 children, adolescents, and pregnant and breastfeeding women have been reached with HIV services, while 2,879 individuals were enrolled into care.

However, national estimates indicate that Nigeria still bears one of the highest burdens of paediatric HIV globally, with about 260,000 children aged 0–14 living with the virus.

Only about 45 per cent of HIV-positive children are currently receiving antiretroviral therapy, compared to higher treatment coverage among adults.

The National Coordinator of the National AIDS, Viral Hepatitis and STIs Control Programme, Dr Adebobola Bashorun, described paediatric HIV as both a public health and moral concern.

Represented by Iyaniwura Ozimede, Bashorun said, “Some of the most vulnerable are those who had no choice in their exposure—our children. This is why the work we are reviewing today is not just programmatic, it is deeply human.”

She noted improvements in prevention of mother-to-child transmission but warned that significant gaps remain across the care continuum.

“Too many HIV-positive pregnant women are still not being reached, especially in hard-to-reach communities. Too many HIV-exposed infants are lost to follow-up, and too many children remain undiagnosed in the community,” she added.

Also speaking, the Country Lead of the Paediatric Breakthrough Partnership, Dr Aisha Dadi, said the initiative aims to close gaps in diagnosis and treatment through coordinated interventions.

She explained that children are harder to identify because they depend entirely on adults for access to healthcare, adding that many fall through gaps in the system.

Dadi said targeted interventions, including engagement with traditional birth attendants and community actors, have improved treatment coverage to about 60–65 per cent in some areas.

Stakeholders also warned that over-reliance on donor funding could threaten the sustainability of HIV programmes if not matched with increased domestic investment.

“The future of our HIV response must increasingly be driven by domestic resources and government ownership. This is not just a financial necessity; it is a strategic imperative,” Dayyabu said.

Nigeria continues to record significant numbers of new paediatric HIV infections annually, largely driven by gaps in prevention of mother-to-child transmission services, making urgent intervention a priority for health authorities and partners.