…Vows To Tackle Substandard Regulated Products,
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has begun a public awareness campaign to protect Nigerians against the dangers of unwholesome food, forged medical items, dangerous cosmetics, contaminated water, and other regulated products that aren’t up to par.
In August and September 2021, the public awareness campaign, which will take place in eight states, will kick off in a few states around the country.
Prof. Christianah Adeyeye, Director General of NAFDAC, spoke at the flag-off event in Abuja, promising that the Agency, under her leadership, will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to rid the country of the threat of counterfeit medical products and other substandard regulated products.
She stated, “that the Sensitization campaigns will further contribute to the Federal Government’s efforts in curbing substandard food and drug related products.
“The key objective of this sensitization programme is to intensify and
expand the scope of our informal and formal behaviour change
communication strategies in order to reach the vulnerable communities especially at the grassroots.
“Dissemination of Food and Drug safety information is an important aspect of our regulatory work.
It is common knowledge that Nigeria has a preponderant share of the global problem of falsified medical products and unwholesome food”.
“The advent of Covid-19 Pandemic has aggravated the problem with the challenge posed by substandard and falsified Personal Protective
Equipment (PPEs).
The Sensitization campaigns will therefore contribute significantly to Federal Government’s concerted efforts to inform, sensitize, educate and alert the public about inherent dangers of intake and use of those spurious regulated products” she said.
“These Campaign themes intend to address the following public health
challenges:Dangers of buying medicines from hawkers. Patients are to buy medicines from only licensed Pharmacies and Medicine Stores; Abuse of Codeine and self-medication especially among youths; The dangerous effects of using Kerosene tanker to load groundnut oil; Dangerous practice of using potassium bromate to bake bread; Use of Azo-dyes in Palm oil which causes cancer.
In addition, Dangers of using Sniper to preserve any type of food or to keep flies away from meat; Dangers of transfat and consumption of excessive oil; Use of formalin on food and its associated health hazards; Low level of Exclusive Breastfeeding Practice by Lactating Mothers and its associated health hazards; Dangers of wrong use of pesticides and insecticides; Wrong use of chemicals and its hazardous effects; and Problem of antimicrobial resistance arising from animal meat” She added.
She further stated that, “We have engaged the services of MMCC as project Consultant to drive
the sensitization campaigns and it is gratifying to note that the
campaign materials are ready to be deployed on the field.
It is our expectation that at the end of the Campaigns, the Participants
and Target Audiences would become dependable Partners and Allies of NAFDAC and be in the forefront of sustaining the public awareness campaigns by disseminating the information and messages to the Grassroots. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that the various communities take ownership of the care and management of their own health”, she added.
