By: Ameh Gabriel
As the global community observes yet another year in the long and difficult battle against HIV/AIDS, an uncomfortable truth is emerging with increasing clarity: the world is slipping into a dangerous complacency, quietly undoing decades of progress.
UNAIDS’ mid-2023 update paints a troubling picture global momentum is slowing, funding is shrinking, and prevention efforts are weakening at precisely the time they are needed most.
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For Nigeria and many developing nations, the consequences are particularly alarming. The 2030 target of ending AIDS as a public health threat is no longer a distant aspiration. It is rapidly approaching yet the world is drifting off-course.
A Global Slowdown With Local Consequences
Despite scientific breakthroughs and targeted intervention strategies, the global response to HIV is losing urgency. New infections, once steadily declining, have plateaued in many regions and are even rising in some pockets of the world.
Since 2022, international donor funding the backbone of HIV programmes across Africa for more than two decades has dropped sharply. Competing global priorities such as conflict, economic recovery, and climate crises have weakened commitment to HIV response. In Nigeria, this has translated into:
Prevention campaigns losing visibility
Youth-focused education becoming inconsistent
Community empowerment programmes suffering financial drought
Testing rates stagnating, especially in urban centres
Domestic investment has not stepped in strongly enough to fill the gap, leaving life-saving programmes overstretched and underfunded.
Young People at the Centre of Rising Risk
Nigeria’s massive youth population, one of its greatest national strengths, now stands at the forefront of rising HIV vulnerability. Various behavioural surveys across major cities in 2023 and early 2024 revealed that many adolescents and young adults still lack accurate, practical information about HIV prevention.
Misinformation on social media, cultural taboos, silence at home, and fear of stigma are widening the knowledge gap.
This lack of awareness is not abstract it has real human stories behind it.
A Memory From ABU Zaria: A Painful Reminder
During my years as a student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, HIV/AIDS was often discussed in whispers rather than openly. One of the most painful experiences from that period was the loss of a classmate’s girlfriend, Esther fondly called “2S”, who died in her final year.
Segun Aragundale, a close mate of mine then, was devastated. Esther had battled HIV for years, enduring emotional distress, social isolation, and the weight of stigma that no young person should ever carry. Even though she received treatment, the burden of silence, rejection, and misunderstanding around her condition weakened her spirit.
Her story remains a painful symbol of what stigma, delayed access to care, and societal shame can cost a young life.
A Family Story That Shows Both Loss and Hope
The reality of HIV is not distant from my own family either.
A cousin of mine lost her husband in Kaduna State barely two years into their marriage. He died from HIV-related complications after years of struggling quietly with the condition too afraid of stigma to seek early help.
Yet, in that same tragedy lies a story of survival and resilience:
My cousin, though also living with HIV, is alive today because she accessed antiretroviral therapy early and has stayed committed to treatment. Her life is a testament to the power of medical progress and a reminder that HIV is not a death sentence when stigma is removed and treatment is embraced.
These two personal memories, separated by years, echo the same message: HIV kills more through silence, shame, and misinformation than through the virus itself.
The Persistent Gender Inequality
Among the most distressing trends in mid-2024 is the widening gender imbalance in HIV infections. Women and girls especially adolescents remain disproportionately affected.
Gender-based violence, economic vulnerability, limited autonomy, and social restrictions on discussing sexuality all fuel the risk.
Experts noted that young women in sub-Saharan Africa remained three times more likely to contract HIV than their male counterparts. This reflects not just a health challenge, but a structural and cultural failure.
The Stigma That Still Silences
Although medical science has advanced, stigma remains stubborn. Across communities in Nigeria, people still fear being judged more than they fear being unwell. This silence:
- Prevents early testing
- Discourages couples from seeking help together
- Keeps young people uninformed
- Sustains myths and misinformation
- It is this silence that cost young Esther her peace.
- It is this silence that delayed my cousin’s husband from getting help early enough.
- And it is this same silence that threatens thousands today.
- Nigeria Must Not Join the Global Retreat
The world may be drifting, but Nigeria must not drift with it. The country must step forward boldly with:
- Stronger domestic financing to sustain prevention and treatment
- Youth-friendly healthcare services that meet young people where they are
- Community-driven initiatives that reflect local realities
- Comprehensive health education free of shame and fear
Policies centred on protecting and empowering women and girls
Agencies like NACA must deepen their partnerships with schools, digital creators, influencers, religious centres, and grassroots groups because HIV response must reach people where they live, learn, worship, and socialize.
A Call for Political Will And Compassion
The global fight against HIV/AIDS has never been won by medicine alone. It has always depended on compassion, honest conversations, and political courage.
Scientific innovation must be matched with policies that protect human dignity.
Community programmes must be strengthened, not cut.
Education must replace silence.
And stigma must be confronted wherever it hides.
By mid-2024, one truth had become clear: the gains of the past 20 years can be lost if we retreat now.
Nigeria must refuse to turn back.
The fight is far from over and the price of complacency is far too high.