Recently, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced additional development assistance resources of $136.5 million to continue our support for the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under a bilateral Development Objective Agreement (DOAG) signed in 2015.

With this most recent addition, the total funding USAID has provided in Nigeria under the DOAG now stands at $1.94 billion. Nearly $133.5 million of the new resources will support programming under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) focused on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in some of the most vulnerable areas of the country. The assistance also includes $3 million to boost activities to combat trafficking in persons, mitigate conflict, build peace, and counter violent extremism. In addition, nearly $220,000 will expand USAID’s efforts to increase access to potable water and reduce water-borne diseases in Nigeria.

Through PEPFAR, the American people support 80 percent of the treatment for HIV/AIDS provided in Nigeria. About 1.9 million Nigerians are living with HIV, according to the latest Nigeria HIV/AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey (NAIIS), financed by PEPFAR in 2018.

As of June 30, 2020, PEPFAR had tested more than five million Nigerians for HIV in Fiscal Year 2020 (including over two million supported by USAID), and had begun more than 219,000 of them on anti-retroviral therapy (including over 91,000 supported by USAID). With approximately 100 percent of people newly identified as living with HIV having started therapy, the total number of Nigerians on PEPFAR-funded HIV/AIDS treatment is more than one million (including over 347,000 supported by USAID).

Additional investments to control the epidemic of HIV in Nigeria provide essential medicines and commodities for HIV-testing at hospitals and clinics sites nationwide and deliver care and support for more than 483,000 children and family members orphaned or otherwise affected by the virus.