No cause for alarm over 10,430 HIV cases report – Lagos Govt assures residents

The Lagos State Government has urged residents against panic over recent media reports on HIV data in the state, stressing that the widely circulated figures did not accurately reflect the actual pattern of new infections.

The clarification followed widespread media coverage of data contained in the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare’s State of the Health of the Nation Report 2025.

The report indicated that Lagos recorded 10,430 HIV cases during the reporting period.

However, Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA), Folakemi Animashaun, during a news conference on Thursday, said the reports had generated understandable public concern but were based on a misinterpretation of public health data.

According to her, the reported figure should not be viewed as evidence of an uncontrolled rise in new HIV infections.

Rather, she said it reflected the success of the state’s expanded HIV testing programme, access to HIV services and sustained progress towards epidemic control.

Ms Animashaun explained that the figure of 10,430, widely reported as the number of new HIV infections recorded in Lagos in 2025, should not be interpreted as the number of people who contracted HIV during the year.

According to her, the figure represents newly diagnosed HIV-positive cases, individuals whose HIV status was confirmed during the reporting period, many of whom may have acquired the virus years earlier before eventually accessing testing services.

She noted that the number also included people referred from other states, residents who travelled to Lagos to access healthcare, and individuals identified through the state’s expanded HIV testing programme.

Ms Animashaun drew a clear distinction between newly diagnosed cases and new HIV infections.

She stated that while the former referred to people whose HIV statuses were confirmed during the reporting period, the latter referred to infections estimated to have occurred within a defined period using epidemiological surveillance and scientific modelling.

“The two indicators are fundamentally different and should never be used interchangeably,” she said.

She warned that inaccurate interpretation of health statistics could fuel unnecessary fear, reinforce stigma and discrimination, discourage people from getting tested and ultimately weaken public health interventions.

To ensure transparency and public confidence, she said the state government was engaging relevant stakeholders to review the methodology, indicator definitions and reporting assumptions behind the published figures to promote accurate interpretation and responsible public communication.

Ms Animashaun said Lagos must also be understood within its unique demographic and healthcare context.

As Nigeria’s most populous state, commercial capital and one of the country’s largest healthcare referral centres, Lagos naturally records some of the highest volumes of HIV testing, diagnosis, treatment and patient referrals nationwide.

She said stronger surveillance systems, wider access to healthcare and increased testing inevitably result in higher case detection rates.

She added that such outcomes should be viewed as evidence of an effective public health system rather than a worsening epidemic.

Presenting the state’s programme performance, the LSACA chief said that Lagos conducted 504,800 HIV tests in 2025, identifying 11,940 HIV-positive individuals, representing a positivity yield of 2.4 per cent.

She noted that during the first quarter of 2026 alone, the state carried out 179,229 HIV tests, with 3,390 positive diagnoses, while the positivity yield declined further to 1.9 per cent.

According to her, the steady decline in positivity rates despite expanded testing is a significant epidemiological indicator demonstrating improved epidemic control across the state.

Ms Animashaun also said that 147,904 persons were receiving antiretroviral therapy in Lagos as of 2025, with an impressive 97 per cent achieving viral suppression.

She described the development as one of the strongest indicators of the effectiveness of the state’s HIV treatment programme.

She added that Lagos also recorded remarkable progress in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, with the early infant diagnosis positivity rate declining from 5.1 per cent in 2020 to 1.5 per cent in 2025.

She said the achievements collectively demonstrate that Lagos has built one of Nigeria’s strongest HIV surveillance, prevention, treatment and response systems through sustained investments in healthcare infrastructure, workforce development, disease surveillance and digital health intelligence.

Ms Animashaun attributed the progress to the commitment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration to strengthening public health systems.

She noted that Lagos already commenced implementation of a comprehensive HIV Response Acceleration Plan covering July to September 2026.

She said the plan focuses on expanding HIV testing, improving linkage to treatment and retention in care, enhancing service quality, strengthening community-based prevention, improving data quality and accountability and ensuring programme sustainability across all LGAs and LCDAs.

She said the state was also scaling up HIV prevention through both oral and long-acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), further expanding options for people at risk of HIV infection.

In what she described as a landmark step towards health security and sustainability, Ms Animashaun announced that Lagos State had become the first sub-national government in Nigeria to independently procure antiretroviral medicines for people living with HIV.

She said that the first consignment of state-procured antiretroviral drugs would arrive before the end of August 2026.

Describing the initiative as a major milestone in reducing dependence on external donor support while guaranteeing uninterrupted access to life-saving treatment.

According to her, the procurement reflects the state’s broader commitment to building a resilient, self-sustaining HIV programme anchored on domestic resource mobilisation, strengthened health systems and long-term commodity security.

She added that Lagos was exploring partnerships with international organisations, including UNAIDS, while studying successful pharmaceutical and health commodity management models such as Kenya’s to strengthen local production of HIV commodities and improving long-term supply chain resilience.

Ms Animashaun urged Lagos residents to ignore misinformation and rely only on verified public health information, encouraging everyone to know their HIV status and access available prevention, testing, treatment and care services.

She reiterated that HIV remained both preventable and manageable, stressing that early diagnosis and consistent treatment enable people living with the virus to lead long, healthy and productive lives.

“Lagos is not defined by the number of people it tests. Lagos is defined by the strength of its response,” she said.

She added that the true measure of any health system lies not in the number of challenges it faces but in how effectively it responds to them.

She assured residents that Lagos would continue confronting HIV through science, innovation, compassion and sustained political commitment while building a future in which its HIV response is increasingly self-reliant and sustainable.

Temitope Fadiya of the UNAIDS, commended the Lagos government’s investment in HIV/AIDS response, noting that the true reflection of the state’s HIV epidemic control was presented by LSACA.

He urged the public against panic, disclosing that the ART Impact Survey was conducted in the state.

He noted that the results were being analysed and have yet to be released.

(NAN)