Lagos State accounts for the highest number of new HIV cases at 10,430, according to data obtained from the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s State of the Health of the Nation Report 2025.
A total of 102,025 new HIV infections were recorded across Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in 2025.
Our correspondent received the data, which provides a state-by-state breakdown of newly recorded HIV infections and exposes the epidemic’s geographical dispersal despite years of enhanced preventive efforts by the federal government and its partners.
The results indicated that Lagos had the most new HIV infections in 2025, with 10,430 cases. Rivers State followed Lagos with 6,287 new infections, while Kano had 6,106 cases.
Akwa Ibom recorded 5,413 new illnesses, Taraba 4,854, Benue 4,804, and Anambra 4,468. Kaduna reported 3,659 new HIV infections, while Adamawa and the Federal Capital Territory reported 2,989 and 2,764 cases, respectively, rounding out the top ten states with the most new HIV infections this year.
Other states with more than 2,000 new infections were Sokoto (2,592), Cross River (2,595), 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 lower end of the scale were Ekiti with 462 new infections; Bayelsa with 982; Gombe with 1,083; Osun with 1,093; Kwara with 1,371; Enugu with 1,429; Yobe with 1,483; Katsina with 1,541; and Kebbi with 1,572.
Despite years of progress in improving treatment availability and lowering AIDS-related fatalities, the results show that HIV remains a major public health concern in Nigeria.
Nigeria has one of the world’s largest HIV treatment programs, with millions of individuals living with the virus receiving life-saving antiretroviral medicine through government-supported facilities and donor-funded efforts.
However, public health experts have repeatedly warned that eliminating new infections is still one of the country’s most difficult issues, particularly among young people, adolescent girls and young women, HIV-positive babies, and important communities.
In recent years, the federal government, working through the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, has increased efforts to curb the spread of HIV by expanding free HIV testing services, increasing access to antiretroviral medicines, scaling up prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs, promoting pre-exposure prophylaxis for high-risk groups, strengthening community awareness campaigns, and improving surveillance through digital health information systems.
The government has also implemented the global 95-95-95 targets, which seek to ensure that 95% of persons living with HIV are aware of their status, 95% of those diagnosed receive ongoing therapy, and 95% of those on treatment achieve viral suppression.
Health officials say meeting these targets is critical to eliminating AIDS as a public health issue by 2030.
On July 10, 2025, UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima warned that, while the world has achieved tremendous strides in reducing HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths, progress is still fragile.
She stated that roughly 1.3 million individuals will contract HIV globally by 2024, emphasizing the importance of continuing to invest in prevention, testing, and treatment to keep the disease under control.
Previously, at a multistakeholder consultation on the global AIDS strategy on April 28, 2025, Byanyima warned that HIV “is not over,” encouraging nations to increase domestic funding and sustain prevention programs to avert a comeback of infections.
Similarly, NACA Director-General Dr. Temitope Ilori has frequently emphasized the need for more domestic funding and community-led activities to sustain Nigeria’s HIV response.
Speaking at various events in 2025, she stated that Nigeria is committed to reducing new HIV infections by improving access to testing, treatment, and preventive programs while strengthening the country’s health systems.
Public health experts have also warned that if governments do not enhance domestic investment in HIV programs, decades of gains would be undermined.
According to UNAIDS, delays in preventive programs could result in an increase in new infections, particularly in countries with high HIV loads like Nigeria.
Although Nigeria has achieved tremendous progress over previous decades, the 102,025 new cases documented in 2025 show that the epidemic is far from ended.
The most recent data indicate that the country’s HIV load remains concentrated in a few states, with Lagos, Rivers, and Kano accounting for a sizable proportion of newly reported infections.
