On Thursday, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control declared a bleaching emergency after noting that Nigeria ranks first in bleaching cases.
NAFDAC Executive Director Professor Mojisola Adeyeye has sounded the alarm about the threat of whitening creams in Nigeria, saying the issue has become a national emergency requiring serious attention.
She made the remarks on Thursday as she was dissolving a media awareness workshop on the dangers of bleaching creams and regulatory scrutiny organized by the Nigerian Association of Health Journalists in Kano.
She warned that 77% of Nigeria’s bleachers are women, and this poses a deadly health threat, requiring a multipronged approach to combat the threat of whitening 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.
“These scary statistics have shown that the menace of bleaching creams in Nigeria has become a national health emergency that requires a multi-faceted regulatory approach,” Prof. Adeyeye said.
She said that in response to these statistics, the Federal Government, through the office of the Secretary to the Government, Boss Mustapha, wrote to NAFDAC last year seeking stringent measures to be implemented against the menace.
According to her, the sensitization workshops in the six geo-political zones were part of the measures being taken.
“This sensitization workshop is a training of trainers program with the great expectation that participants will assume roles of champions in the vanguard of the campaign against the use of bleaching creams.
“I wish to assure you that NAFDAC will henceforth constantly engage the mass media as we strive to bring down to the grass levels the positive impact of our regulatory activities.
“Even though I have assigned some of my competent officers to carry out this training, it has become imperative for me to warn that some of the harmful effects of bleaching creams include cancer, damage to vital organs in the body, skin irritation and allergy, skin burn and rashes, wrinkles, premature ageing and prolonged healing of wounds,” she stated.
Also speaking, the former National President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Ahmad Yakasai warned that the cases of bleaching among women folks and men, if not arrested, would create serious health cases in Nigeria.
The Director of Public Affairs of NAFDAC, Dr Abubakar Jimoh said the agency had only 3000 staff covering the entire federation of over 200 million people.
