‘I spent everything on empty promises’ — HIV patients turn to faith healers amid US aid cuts

HIV patients across northern Nigeria, Niger and Chad are abandoning proven antiretroviral therapy for unregulated “Islamic medicine” remedies following the halt in US PEPFAR funding in January 2025.

According to AllAfrica, one patient, Aisha, sold her household furniture to buy a herbal cure after her free ART supply in Maiduguri ended, only for her symptoms to return after two months.

Traditional healers in Kano and Borno states are selling remedies for between N45,000 and N250,000, claiming cures that medical experts say do not exist, as PEPFAR’s global funding cuts leave treatment gaps across the region.