LAGOS, Nigeria – The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) has confirmed that all HIV-positive pregnant women under its care delivered babies free of the virus.
The announcement came on Tuesday during the opening of the 7th National Council on AIDS (NCA) in Lagos.
Speaking at the event, the Director-General of NIMR, Professor John Obafunwa who represented the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako said: “As of June 2025, all 16 HIV-positive pregnant women receiving care at our centre delivered HIV-negative babies.”
NIMR’s Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme has managed over 7,000 HIV-positive pregnant women since 2004. Obafunwa added that in July 2025 alone, the institute enrolled 24 new pregnant women into its HIV care programme.
Despite this progress, Obafunwa warned: “The burden of HIV remains high. Many people in our communities remain undiagnosed due to social and economic barriers.”
He called for increased government support to address patient dropouts, citing transport and unemployment as major issues.
NIMR’s Director of Research, Dr Oliver Ezechi, credited the success to scientifically proven interventions adapted from developed countries. “We observed that health centres often turned away HIV-positive women during delivery. We changed that.”
He noted that the institute’s paediatric HIV clinic is now nearly empty evidence of the programme’s success.
NACA Director-General, Dr Temitope Ilori, emphasised the importance of local sustainability: “We’re prioritising domestic solutions—health insurance, local drug production, and sub-national partnerships.”
UNICEF reports that West and Central Africa, including Nigeria, have helped prevent 14% of global childhood HIV infections since 2000. Yet, progress remains too slow to meet 2030 targets.
