COVID-19 and HIV in Nigeria

The coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has been a challenging pandemic that has been ravaging the world since 2019 which has claimed more than 3.6 million lives globally. This development is a double burden on public health considering the ongoing HIV/AIDS pandemic with 37.9 million people living with HIV and 770,000 deaths from AIDS in 2018. Sub-Saharan Africa has been the epicenter of HIV/AIDS pandemic with the region accounting for 68% of the infection as at 2018, 74% of the 1.5million deaths from HIV/AIDS in 2013. Nigeria remains the second largest HIV epidemic in the world with 1.9million people living with HIV in 2018. Nigeria is also one of the top 5 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with the highest numbers of confirmed cases of COVID-19. Despite the double burden effect that the COVID-19 pandemic is presently having on the HIV-positive population in Nigeria, there has been no case reports or research in Nigeria to determine the prevalence, prognosis and outcome of this pandemic among the vast population of PLWHA in the nation.