After determining that Nigeria currently leads the world in bleaching cases, the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control, or NAFDAC, has declared a State of Emergency on bleaching. The danger of bleaching creams in Nigeria has been brought to light by Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director General of NAFDAC, who claims that the issue has turned into a national emergency that needs immediate action. This was said by her as she opened a media awareness workshop on the dangers of bleaching creams and regulatory control on Thursday in Kano, which was put on by the Association of Nigerian Health Journalists.
The fact that 77 percent of bleachers in Nigeria are female, she continued, necessitates a holistic strategy for combating the bleaching creams threat because they pose serious health risks. According to a 2018 World Health Organization survey, 77 percent of Nigerian women use skin bleaching creme, making it the most common in Africa (compared to 59 percent in Togo, 35 percent in South Africa, and 27 percent in Senegal). According to these alarming data, Nigeria's bleaching cream problem has developed into a national health emergency that necessitates a multifaceted regulatory strategy, she said.
She further mentioned how, in reaction to these figures, the Federal Government wrote to NAFDAC last year, requesting that strict measures be taken against the problem, through the office of the Secretary to the Government, Boss Mustapha. She stated that one of the actions being taken included holding awareness seminars in each of the six geopolitical zones.
“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,”
Speaking, Pharm. Ahmad Ibrahim Yakasai, a former national president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, cautioned that incidences of bleaching among women and men would result in major health issues in Nigeria if they were not stopped. Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, the NAFDAC's Director of Public Affairs, expressed concern that the organization's 3000 employees are insufficient to adequately serve the federation's 200 million+ residents.
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