Lagos State Government, in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Health and other stakeholders, is set to begin the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Impact Survey (AIS) to assess the prevalence of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and the coverage and impact of HIV services in the state.

At a town hall meeting on Tuesday in Lagos, officials from the federal, state, and local government levels, community leaders, security agencies, and civil society organisations (CSOs) shared ideas on the survey’s modalities.

The state-level AIS themed “Every Step Counts: Towards an HIV-free Nigeria” is a cross-sectional, household-based sub-nationally representative survey among adults aged 15-64 across Lagos State. The survey will be conducted in 205 selected enumeration areas, covering 6,150 randomly selected households with approximately 11,397 participants across 20 local government areas (LGAs).

In his address, the Permanent Secretary of Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Olusegun Ogboye, called on all stakeholders, including community leaders and security agencies, to help ensure the success of the survey.

“I would also like to ask the field workers who have been recruited for this work to take the task extremely seriously. The information that we draw up from the results that you give us is going to be used for planning at the ministry and also at the national level. It’s important that it’s as accurate as possible,” he said.

Also speaking, the Director of Disease Control, DDC, at the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Victoria Egunjobi, said she was sure that the town hall meeting would ensure that attendees return to their communities and enlighten the people with the right information.

Delivering an overview of AIS, Sabina Ike from the National AIDS and STDs Control Programme, NASCP, said Nigeria still has the fourth highest HIV burden in the world and the highest in the West/Central Africa region.

Ike said a test-run will be conducted on September 29-30 before the data collection proper from October 20–December 19. She noted that interviewers from the field staff will obtain consent from participants and every test will be treated as confidential.

Representative of PHIS3, Dr Udom Okon who spoke on the implementation plan for the AIS, added that the process began on July 7, 2025 with engagement with Lagos officials on the implementation of Lagos AIS and the exercise is scheduled to end on September 6, 2026 after several stages which include field practice, community mobilisation, data collection and field monitoring and supervision, data analysis, preliminary release of result, dissemination of AIS summary sheet, finalisation of AIS tabulations among others.

Households that participate in the survey will receive a non-monetary token of appreciation.

Stakeholders involved in the project are the Federal Ministry of Health, Lagos State Ministry of Health, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Lagos State Agency for the Control of AIDS, LSACA, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC. Others are non-governmental organisations and donors involved in HIV prevention, care, and treatment such as PEPFAR, UNAIDS, Health Assistant Office in the US Department of State, WHO, NEPWAN, and CSOs.

The implementing partner is the Public Health Information, Surveillance Solutions and Systems, PHIS3.