Game-Changer In Health: Nigeria Adopts Global HIV Prevention Cost-Cut Pact

According to Ireporter Online, the Nigerian government has joined world leaders in unveiling a landmark price cut for lenacapavir, a groundbreaking HIV prevention drug, during the 2025 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York, held alongside the 80th United Nations General Assembly. The announcement marks a major breakthrough in global health, as the cost of the twice-yearly injectable medication—previously pegged at $28,000—will now be reduced to just $40 per person annually.

Health experts have hailed the deal as a game-changer that will expand access to millions across Nigeria and more than 100 low- and middle-income countries. Representing Nigeria at the event, the Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Temitope Ilori, emphasized that the agreement is a historic turning point, ensuring the innovation delivers equity rather than remaining a privilege for the few. She described it as a milestone in the country’s fight against HIV, offering longer-lasting protection, greater convenience, and renewed hope for those at risk.

The World Health Organisation has stressed that HIV remains a major global public health concern. By the end of 2024, an estimated 40.8 million people were living with the virus worldwide, with 65 percent of them residing in Africa. That same year, 1.3 million people contracted HIV—including 120,000 children—while 630,000 lives were lost to HIV-related causes. In Nigeria, prevalence among adults aged 15 to 49 stood at 1.3 percent in 2023, with around 30,000 deaths recorded. Data also shows that over 1.6 million Nigerians were on antiretroviral therapy as of that year.

The latest agreement follows the World Health Organisation’s updated guidance in July 2025, recommending injectable lenacapavir as an additional preventive option for people at substantial risk of infection. The price breakthrough was made possible through collaboration with UNITAID, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Wits RHI, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, and the Gates Foundation, which also partnered with Indian manufacturer Hetero Labs to further scale production.

Nigeria’s active participation at the UN General Assembly underscores its leadership role in shaping global health policies and reaffirms its commitment to strengthening health systems, expanding access to preventive medicine, and accelerating progress toward ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030.