Expert warns funding freeze could undo 20 years of progress and trigger a dangerous resurgence
An HIV/AIDS expert, Dr Nandul Durfa, has raised the alarm that Nigeria risks a fresh HIV/AIDS crisis following the halt of U.S. foreign aid, urging the Federal Government to urgently and fully fund HIV/AIDS services to protect young Nigerians.
Speaking in Abuja, the Reach Care Foundation boss said the sudden withdrawal of USAID-linked funding has forced major service providers, including the Institute of Human Virology, Nigeria, to terminate contracts and shut down life-saving programmes.
Durfa warned that without immediate government intervention, Nigeria could slide back to the deadly HIV/AIDS era of the early 2000s, when hospitals were overwhelmed with patients.
“If you stop funding without killing the virus, it will mutate, spread and return stronger. Young people under 20 never experienced that nightmare,” he said.
He noted that treatment interruptions could lead to drug resistance, rising infections, mother-to-child transmission, mental health crises and even suicides among patients suddenly cut off from care.
With over 500 patients depending on his foundation alone, Durfa said the situation is a public health time bomb, calling for urgent funding to sustain antiretroviral drugs, testing, counselling and prevention programmes.
“This disease was subdued, not defeated. A funding gap will wash away decades of hard-won gains,” he warned.
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