RismadarVoice Reporters, February 2, 2026
A public health expert has warned that the suspension of United States foreign aid for HIV/AIDS programmes could reverse decades of progress, expose young Nigerians to renewed risk of infection.
The Managing Director of Reach Care Foundation, Dr. Nandul Durfa, issued the warning on Sunday in Abuja while reacting to the termination of funding agreements following a new United States policy on foreign aid.
Durfa told newsmen that the Federal Government must urgently, fully fund HIV/AIDS services to prevent a relapse to what he described as the “gory days” of the epidemic.
He was responding to a letter from the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria (IHVN), notifying his organisation of the immediate termination of funding support.
In the letter, signed by the institute’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Patrick Dakum, IHVN said that “due to prevailing funding constraints,” it had been “compelled to terminate all contracts currently in force” with its partner organizations, with immediate effect.
Several non-governmental organizations and corporate bodies involved in HIV/AIDS interventions across the country have shut down following the new US policy halting foreign aid.
The Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria, had been a major beneficiary of US foreign assistance channelled through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The suspension of aid follows a broader policy shift by the US government, which includes the dismantling of USAID, cuts to its workforce, and the immediate suspension of most of its overseas aid projects and programmes. USAID previously distributed tens of billions of dollars annually in foreign assistance.
With the collapse of its funding base, IHVN has halted support for HIV/AIDS services nationwide, leaving caregivers and service providers uncertain about the future of treatment and prevention programmes.
Expressing concern over the development, Durfa recalled that HIV/AIDS posed a severe public health crisis in Nigeria about two decades ago.
“The scourge was deadly and claimed many lives,” he said. “As the then Chief Medical Director of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, I recall that we had more than 7,000 HIV/AIDS patients at one point.”
He noted that sustained support from the United States, through USAID and related programmes, played a critical role in Nigeria’s success in drastically reducing new infections.
“Through that support, Nigeria was able to reduce the incidence to almost zero, and we were mopping everything up. But with the decision to stop the funding, the outcome is obvious, Nigeria risks relapsing into a worse epidemic if urgent measures are not taken,” he warned.
Durfa stressed that young Nigerians would be the most vulnerable if funding gaps persist.
“Young people, especially those under 20, never experienced the HIV/AIDS scourge, may not understand the need for preventive measures,” he said.
He further cautioned that interrupting treatment and prevention programmes could lead to drug resistance.
“If you stop the funding without killing the virus, the existing virus will develop resistance. Even if funding returns later, a lot of ground would have been lost,” he said.
