The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) says condom distribution in Nigeria dropped by 55 per cent over the past year, raising concerns about rising vulnerabilities and stalled progress in HIV prevention.
The warning came during the launch of the 2025 World AIDS Day report, “Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response,” where UNAIDS said the global HIV response is experiencing its worst setback in decades.
According to the report, HIV prevention, testing and community-led programmes have been severely disrupted across multiple countries, with 13 nations recording declines in the number of people newly initiated on treatment.
UNAIDS also revealed that an estimated 450,000 women in sub-Saharan Africa lost access to “mother mentors”—trusted community health workers who link pregnant women to HIV care and prevention services.
The agency attributed the disruptions to abrupt funding cuts and a worsening human rights environment, which have destabilized prevention and treatment efforts worldwide.
“The funding crisis has exposed the fragility of the progress we fought so hard to achieve,” UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima, said during the launch in Geneva.
“Behind every data point in this report are people—babies missed for HIV screening, young women cut off from prevention support, and communities suddenly left without services and care. We cannot abandon them,” she added.
UNAIDS noted that adolescent girls and young women were already disproportionately affected before the current crisis, with 570 new HIV infections occurring daily among females aged 15 to 24 in sub-Saharan Africa.
“This is our moment to choose,” Byanyima said. “We can allow these shocks to undo decades of hard-won gains, or we can unite behind the shared vision of ending AIDS. Millions of lives depend on the choices we make today.”
The report also shows that community-led organizations—the backbone of global HIV outreach—are under significant pressure, with more than 60 per cent of women-led groups reporting that they have had to suspend essential services.
UNAIDS modelling suggests that failure to restore prevention programmes could result in an additional 3.3 million new HIV infections between 2025 and 2030.
The agency further highlighted a steep decline in international assistance, citing OECD projections that external health funding could drop by 30 to 40 per cent in 2025 compared with 2023.
“The impact has been immediate and severe, especially in low- and middle-income countries highly affected by HIV,” the report warned.
UNAIDS urged world leaders to reaffirm global solidarity, uphold multilateral commitments—including those made at the recent G20 Leaders Summit in South Africa—and increase HIV funding for nations most dependent on external support.
The agency also called for stronger investments in innovation, including affordable long-acting prevention tools, and renewed efforts to uphold human rights and empower communities, which it described as central to an effective global HIV response.
