Nigeria has just concluded one of the most important conversations of its HIV response in recent years, and the urgency that carried through the two days of dialogue could not have been more timely. The temporary freeze on U.S. Government-supported HIV interventions earlier this year created disruptions that rippled across the entire prevention and community service landscape. For many young people and key populations, the freeze was not a policy event. It was a lived experience that shaped their access to information, care, safety, and dignity. The shock did not only interrupt services. It exposed how deeply Nigeria’s HIV response still leans on external financing for its stability.
As clinics scaled down operations and outreach teams paused their work, EVA and our partners saw firsthand how quickly progress can unravel when community-led systems are not protected. PrEP uptake dropped dramatically. CAB LA access stalled. Over eighty community one-stop centres that play a critical role in reaching young people, and Key populations were disrupted. These centres are more than service points. They are safe spaces. When they falter, young people lose more than access. They lose trust, confidence and continuity.
The Government–CSO Dialogue Workshop on HIV Transition, Sustainability, and Domestic Resource Mobilization, held over two days in Abuja, was a direct response to these realities. It brought together government institutions, civil society organisations, development partners and community networks to confront the implications of the funding freeze and define what a sustainabTGRFle, Nigeria-led HIV response must look like. For EVA, the workshop was not just a technical engagement. It was an opportunity to elevate young people and community voices, to ensure that the groups most affected by the disruptions were the ones informing the path forward.
Across the two days, a clear message emerged. Nigeria’s HIV response cannot continue to operate in a cycle where progress expands under donor investment and contracts during global shifts. Sustainability requires a deliberate rebalancing of power and responsibility. Government agencies need stronger domestic financing frameworks that are predictable and transparent. Civil society must be structurally integrated into service delivery and policymaking. Community actors must have defined roles in accountability and monitoring. And young people must remain central, not peripheral, to decision-making.
This is the same message at the heart of the Nigeria CSOs Accountability Report 2025, now available on our website. The report documents the real-world effects of the funding freeze and shows how disruptions in youth-friendly and community-led services widened vulnerabilities, deepened inequalities and limited access to prevention tools. But it also presents opportunities for reform. It underscores the need for national investment and for policy environments that protect community leadership, innovation and trust.
The workshop created the first unified space this year where government and civil society sat together to co-create a shared pathway for transition. Technical presentations unpacked the implications of donor withdrawal and outlined financing options that Nigeria must consider as part of its long-term HIV transition agenda. Civil society synthesised evidence gathered from earlier consultations, bringing lived experiences and frontline realities directly into the centre of national planning. Community leaders spoke about the fear, stigma and service gaps young people faced when prevention programmes went silent. And both sides worked together to agree on priorities that will shape the transition roadmap ahead.
These discussions resulted in a collective understanding that sustainability is not only financial. It is structural. It is relational. It is centred in the confidence that the system will continue to function even when external support shifts. Achieving that confidence requires collaboration that is honest, consistent and rooted in accountability. It means building a domestic response that supports community-led monitoring, protects key population services, strengthens youth-friendly systems and invests in prevention rather than responding only when crises emerge.
For EVA, the workshop demonstrated what can happen when stakeholders choose partnership over parallelism. It proved that young people and community networks have more than stories to share. They have analysis, solutions, and strategies that enrich national efforts. It also reaffirmed that Nigeria has the expertise and commitment needed to build a resilient HIV response. What is needed now is the political will to follow through.
The disruptions of 2025 should not be remembered only for the services that paused or the progress that slowed. They should be remembered for the turning point they created. Nigeria now has a clearer understanding of its vulnerabilities and a stronger sense of its collective capacity. The Accountability Report 2025 provides evidence to guide the next steps. The workshop has established a shared foundation for action. The national agenda now needs consistent leadership to carry these commitments forward.
EVA remains committed to supporting this transition and to ensuring that young people, key populations, and community organisations remain central to every discussion and decision. The path to sustainability will not be built through declarations. It will be built through investment, trust, and the recognition that communities drive impact at every level of the HIV response.
Nigeria has the opportunity to redesign its future. The work has begun. Now the responsibility is shared.