The National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has declared the use of bleaching creams in the country to be a serious national health emergency.
The development comes after Nigeria was ranked first in Africa for the use of bleaching creams.
Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director General of NAFDAC, announced this on Thursday, February 9, in Kano.
Adeyeye revealed that Nigeria ranks first in Africa among countries that use bleaching creams at the start of a media sensitization workshop on the dangers of bleaching creams organized by the Association of Nigerian Health Journalists.
“The World Health Organisation study in 2018 revealed that the use of skin bleaching cream is prevalent amongst 77 percent of Nigerian women, which is the highest in Africa compared to 59 percent in Togo, 35 percent in South Africa, and 27 percent 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,” she said.
Adeyeye went on to say that the Federal Government is working hard to put stringent measures in place to combat the threat.
Sensitization workshops in the six geopolitical zones, according to the NAFDAC chief, are part of the measures being taken to discourage the use of bleaching creams.
“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 aging and prolonged healing of wounds,” she stated.
