The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye has revealed that the outbreak of the Covid-19 has aggravated the challenge posed by substandard medical products and unwholesome food products in the country.
She, therefore, advised Nigerians to stop patronising street drugs’hawkers and ensure that they patronise only licenced patents and medicines stores and pharmacy stores in the nation.
She spoke at the flagging off of a sensitisation campaign among people in the north central zone held at Ilorin, Kwara State yesterday. The event was part of the agency’s sensitisation campaigns taken to eight states in the federation. The exercise took the agency to all markets, motor parks, streets among others in Ilorin.
Adeyeye however said dissemination of safety infor-mation on food and drugs was an important aspect of the agency’s regulatory work.
Represented at the event by the Director, North Central Zone of the agency, Mrs. Bolaji Abayomi, the director general of the agency warned people on dangers of buying medicines from hawkers, saying that patients should buy medicines from only licenced pharmacies and medicine stores.
Adeyeye also said the campaign themes were intended to address public health challenges such as abuse of codeine and self-medication especially among youths.
“Others include 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, 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, and use of formalin on food and its associated health hazards,” she added.
The director general who lamented low level of exclusive breastfeeding practice by lactating mothers and its associated health hazards, encouraged mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding for two years for good health of their children.
She also highlighted dangers of wrong use of pesticides and insecticides, wrong use of chemicals and its hazardous effects, as well as problem of antimicrobial resistance arising from animal meat.
“The key objective of this sensitisation 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 sensitisation campaigns will therefore contribute significantly to federal government’s efforts to inform, sensitise, educate and alert the public about inherent dangers of intake and use of those spurious regulated products,” she added.
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