Harm Reduction: A Pathway To Community Health in Nigeria

Background: Nigeria’s population is estimated to be about 200 million people as at 2023, with about 14 million people representing 14.4% of Nigeria’s population aged between 15-64 years using drugs in 2018 (UNODC), 80,000 persons are injecting drug users and about half of this data (40,000) reported to have shared needles already used by someone, HIV prevalence rose steeply amongst people who inject drugs from 3.4% in 2014 to 10.9% in 2020, a percentage higher than the national average of 1.4%. The enormous drug problems and especially that of Injecting Drug Use and HIV prevalence cannot be underestimated. There is an emergency.
Methods: This is a qualitative study using convenient sampling methods from the Federal Ministry of Health, FHi 360 and Heartland Alliance (HALG) and other stakeholders.
Results: Reports from FHi 360 HR Implementation in Nigeria indicated that NSP was implemented in 7 out of the 36 states in the country, a total of 46,144 PWID comprising of 35,287 males and 10,857 females were reached and 1,835.510 needles and syringes were distributed from October 2022 with retrieval rate of 64% while over 1000 persons provided Psycho-Social Supports. 
Conclusion: The above is an indication of the acceptance and progress made in implementing Harm Reduction Program in Nigeria. The criminalization of drug use as well as stigmatization and discrimination has reduced as law enforcement is included in the implementation. The interventions for administering Methadone will follow very soon.