This report was designed to characterize the legal, policy, and economic climate on the issue of access to drugs for HIV/AIDS and related opportunistic infections (OIs) in Nigeria. Local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations have produced information on drug availability and accessibility (especially by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). However, there has not been a comprehensive report on how the intersecting issues of health and drug policies, pharmacy laws, drug distribution, prescribing practices, research and manufacturing, and drug resistance impact drug accessibility.

The authors of this report have been researching and working with civil society organizations in Nigeria on the issue of access to drugs for HIV/AIDS. We conducted a number of meetings with many different institutions and organizations that are involved with drug quality, availability, and resistance. We also met with government officials/institutions that provided information dealing with legal and policy issues relating to drugs. Most of these meetings were confined to Lagos and Abuja and virtually no visits were made outside of these urban areas. We relied on current and existing statistical data from various professional organizations, the Internet, and libraries to assess information. Moreover, we consulted NGOs and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), both of whom provided data and documents and shared their experience with access to drugs in both urban and rural areas.