THE National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has again warned Nigerians against the use of bleaching creams.
The agency gave the fresh warning during a one-day workshop on Wednesday, March 29, organised for media stakeholders in Enugu State with the theme, ‘The dangers of bleaching creams and regulatory controls’.
Speaking at the the flag-off of the workshop, the Director General of the agency Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who was represented by the Director of Chemical Evaluation and Research, Dr. Patrick Omokpariola, listed some of the harmful effects of bleaching creams which include cancer, damage to vital organs of the body, skin irritation and allergy, skin burn and rashes, wrinkles, premature skin ageing and prolong healing of wounds.
“A World Health Organisation 2018 study revealed that use of skin bleaching creams was prevalent among 77 per cent of Nigerian women which was highest in Africa compared to 59 per cent in Togo, 35 per cent in South Africa and 27 per cent women in Senegal.”
She noted that statistics reveal that Nigeria has become a national health emergency that requires a multi-faced regulatory approach.
“This scary statistic has shown that the menace of bleaching creams in Nigeria has become a national health emergency that requires a multi-faced regulatory approach. Part of the multi-pronged approach is consultative/sensitisation meetings such as this and heightened raids on distribution outlets of bleaching creams,” she said.
The NAFDAC boss further noted that the sensitisation workshop was in fulfilment of her promise to cascade it to the six geo-political zones in the country as a deliberate strategy of mobilising, educating, sensitising, and challenging Nigerian Health journalists to play frontline role in their concerted efforts to eradicate the menace of bleaching creams and needless waste of scarce resources in Nigeria.
The ICIR had on February 10 reported how NAFDAC declared the use of bleaching creams as a serious national health emergency in the country.
NAFDAC made the declaration after Nigeria was ranked number one in the use of bleaching creams in Africa.
The NAFDAC DG noted that 77 per cent of Nigerian women use bleaching creams.
“The World Health Organisation study in 2018 revealed that the use of skin bleaching cream is prevalent amongst 77 per cent of Nigerian women, which is the highest in Africa compared to 59 per cent in Togo, 35 per cent in South Africa and 27 per cent in Senegal.”
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M