The rate of antiretroviral treatment (ART) coverage among HIV-positive pregnant women in Nigeria has dropped to 83 per cent, marking a sharp decline from the 98 per cent recorded in 2025.
This downturn, revealed in recent programme data, indicates a regression in the country’s ability to manage HIV/AIDS within maternal healthcare services. The 15-percentage-point fall over a single year suggests a significant gap in the delivery of essential medicines to expectant mothers.
Health experts warn that this reduction increases the risk of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of the virus. When pregnant women do not receive consistent ART, the likelihood of passing HIV to their infants during pregnancy, labour, or breastfeeding rises substantially.
Impact on prevention of mother-to-child transmission
The data, which first appeared in a report by Premium Times, shows a reversal of previous gains made in the national fight against vertical transmission. For much of the last decade, Nigeria has worked to expand the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) framework to protect newborns from the virus.
Antiretroviral therapy is the primary tool used to manage the viral load in pregnant women. By maintaining a suppressed viral load, the risk of the virus crossing the placental barrier or being transmitted during birth is minimal. A drop to 83 per cent means that a significant number of HIV-positive expectant mothers are currently navigating pregnancy without the medical support required to safeguard their children.
While the specific causes for this decline—whether they relate to drug stockouts, funding shortages, or logistical failures in rural healthcare centres—have not been explicitly detailed in the current data, the statistical shift points to a breakdown in the continuity of care. Such declines often occur when supply chains for essential medicines fail or when healthcare infrastructure in underserved regions loses access to consistent funding.
The decline in coverage also complicates Nigeria’s ability to meet international health targets. Sub-Saharan African nations have been under pressure to eliminate new HIV infections among children, a goal that requires near-universal ART coverage among pregnant women. The reversal of progress in Nigeria, one of the continent’s most populous nations, could slow regional efforts to reach these benchmarks.
Medical practitioners and public health advocates are calling for an immediate investigation into the causes of the coverage drop. The focus remains on whether the shortage is a result of procurement issues or a lack of access to primary healthcare facilities in remote areas.
The federal government and relevant health agencies have yet to release a formal response or a strategy to restore the treatment coverage to the previous 98 per cent level.
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