Policy Reform Towards Implementing Harm Reduction in Nigeria

Abstract

Despite the fact that there are numerous strong global proofs that support harm reduction strategies, the coverage, adoption and implementation for people who inject drugs (PWID) is poor and Nigeria is not an exception to this. PWID constitute a considerable quota of people at-risk in Nigeria and 20% of people who use drugs are injecting drugs. It has been reported that the most common drugs injected were pharmaceutical opioids, followed by cocaine and heroin. In Nigeria, the level of risky injecting practices and risky sexual behaviors among PWID is worrisome. Particularly, women who inject drugs are more prone to engage in high-risk sexual behaviors compared to the male counterpart which further catalyze their risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV among other infections. This problem is doubly compounded by the criminalization of drug use and the non-adoption of evidence-based harm reduction strategies in the country. Even though numerous evidences and mathematical models revealed that combination of opioid substitution treatment (OST), Syringe Access Services (SAS) and Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) among PWID can reduce new HIV infections by more than 50%, adoption of harm reduction globally is still abysmally low. I take a critical look at the implementation of harm reduction measures to address the health risks related to injection drug use in Nigeria.