BY ESTHER OBIAZI
THE Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), South-South Zone, has marked the 2025 World AIDS Day with a strong call for renewed global urgency in combating the pandemic. It warned that decades of hard-won progress are at risk due to funding cuts, service disruptions and widening inequalities.
This year’s theme “Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response”, underscored rising concern among health advocates as global statistics show persistent challenges. In 2024 alone, the world recorded 40.8 million people living with HIV, 1.3 million new infections and 630,000 AIDS-related deaths—numbers that NAWOJ said should compel immediate and coordinated action from governments and institutions.
World AIDS Day 2025 also coincided with the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, a period dedicated to addressing the structural inequalities and harmful practices that disproportionately expose women and girls to HIV. NAWOJ South-South emphasized that gender-based violence, economic vulnerability and discriminatory cultural norms continue to heighten HIV risk, especially for young women and adolescent girls.
According to the association, tackling the root causes is essential. “Protecting women and girls from violence is not only a human rights priority, but a public health imperative,” the group stated.
NAWOJ South-South outlined key areas where urgent action is needed to ensure the world stays on track to end AIDS by 2030. The association called for more political will through sustained funding, sound policies and effective implementation, as well as for international partners to meet commitments and close critical funding gaps. It also called for an end to stigmatization. NAWOJ South-South stressed the need for simplified and decentralized HIV services, strengthened systems to address drug resistance, better integration of HIV services into primary healthcare and wider access to long-acting anti-retroviral therapies for both prevention and treatment.
