A significant proportion of people living with HIV in Lagos remain outside the reach of diagnosis and effective disease control, with only 48.3 per cent achieving viral suppression, according to a new population-based survey.
The findings expose persistent gaps in the state’s HIV response, despite a 93.4 per cent treatment rate among those who have been diagnosed with the virus.
The Nigeria State-Level Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Impact Survey, conducted between November 2025 and February 2026 with funding from the United States Government through the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), estimated HIV prevalence in Lagos at 1.2 per cent.
Women recorded a higher prevalence of 1.6 per cent, compared with 0.8 per cent among men, while 41.7 per cent of people living with HIV were unaware of their status.
Although 58.3 per cent knew they were infected, the survey found that 93.4 per cent of those diagnosed were receiving antiretroviral treatment. Among patients on treatment, 88.9 per cent had achieved viral suppression.
The figures suggest that the challenge extends beyond getting diagnosed patients onto medication to identifying those who remain unaware of their infection and ensuring that treatment produces the desired health outcomes.
Speaking at the presentation of the findings in Ikeja, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Dayo Lajide, said the survey would provide a basis for measuring progress since the 2018 Nigeria AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey, which identified gaps in the country’s HIV response.
Lajide also referred to the 2025 HIV Health Sector Report by the Federal Ministry of Health, through the National AIDS, Viral Hepatitis and STIs Control Programme, which estimated that 192,911 people were living with HIV in Lagos.
Of that number, 129,977 were receiving antiretroviral treatment, representing 65.7 per cent coverage.
Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Dr Temitope Ilori, said the more difficult task was not conducting the survey but translating its findings into improved services for affected populations.
She urged stakeholders to use the data to identify underserved communities and direct resources towards closing existing gaps, adding that the Federal Government was prepared to support states in implementing the findings.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency, Dr Anima Shaw, said the results would guide the state’s budgeting, resource allocation and intervention planning.
Shaw said the agency would focus on communities with undiagnosed and untreated cases while strengthening treatment adherence, retention in care and differentiated service delivery.
She stressed that the responsibility to people living with HIV must extend beyond the completion of the survey
