FCTA Moves to Rural Communities to Sustain Nigeria’s HIV Response, Warns of Setback Without Grassroots Awareness
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has warned that Nigeria risks losing significant progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS unless interventions expand deeper into rural communities, where stigma, insecurity and limited access to services continue to hinder efforts.
Speaking at the 2025 World AIDS Day commemoration in Abuja on Tuesday, the Mandate Secretary of the FCT Health Services and Environment Secretariat, Adedolapo Fasawe represented by the Permanent Secretary, Babagana Adams stressed the urgency of strengthening community-level engagement.
“The people who need the message more are in the communities. We can’t succeed in sustaining the campaign against AIDS without going closer to the rural areas,” she said.
Fasawe explained that this year’s World AIDS Day theme, “Overcoming Disruptions: Sustaining Nigeria’s HIV Response,” underscores the need for increased domestic funding as donor support continues to decline.
She identified insecurity in remote settlements, difficult terrain, and persistent stigma as major obstacles the government intends to confront head-on.
According to her, the FCTA remains committed to ensuring “access, affordability and availability” of HIV services so that treatment success rates continue to improve.
Supporting the call for deeper community interventions, the FCT Regional Manager of the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), Tangkat Hosle, said strengthening local ownership of the HIV response remains vital for Nigeria to meet the target of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
“This day allows us to review our interventions and see how far we’ve come,” he said, adding that the FCT’s coordination platforms have been instrumental in maintaining progress.
Hosle noted that despite the transformation of HIV from a once-fatal disease into a manageable chronic condition, vulnerable groups especially women, children and people living in poverty continue to bear the greatest burden.
He reaffirmed IHVN’s commitment to supporting the government, improving health systems, and expanding innovative prevention and treatment options.
Also speaking, the Director of the FCT Department of Public Health, Dan Gadzama, revealed that the administration has strengthened its community structures through a First-Class Committee that interfaces directly with area councils.
“We educate people about HIV, including the availability of treatment and preventive services. Treatment is free,” he said.
Gadzama highlighted the role of community mobilisers, civil society organisations, and networks of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in boosting service uptake across all six area councils, assuring that the FCTA will continue to push HIV awareness and treatment closer to underserved populations.
World AIDS Day is marked globally every December 1 to reflect on progress made, honour lives lost, and renew commitments to ending the HIV epidemic.
