By Sodeinde Temidayo David
The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in a bid to ensure a good life for all Nigerians, has flagged off a campaign against the dangers of self-medication and other public health challenges.
The campaign is targeted at addressing the dangers of buying medicines from hawkers, abuse of codeine and self-medication, especially among youths.
Also, for the period of the campaign, dangers behind some common practices of most Nigerians due to lack of knowledge, and causes poisoning would be addressed.
This will feature the education on the dangerous effect of using kerosene tankers to load groundnut oil, the dangerous practice of using potassium bromate to bake bread, the use of Azo-dye in palm oil, and the dangers of using Sniper to preserve any type of food or keep flies away from meat.
This also includes the dangers of consuming excessive oil, the use of formalin on food and its associated health hazards, the low level of exclusive breastfeeding practice by lactating mothers and its associated health hazards.
Others are the dangers of the wrong use of pesticides and insecticides, the wrong use of chemicals and their hazardous effects and the problem of antimicrobial resistance arising from animal meat.
Speaking at the sensitisation campaign in Lagos, NADAC Director-General, Dr Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye, encouraged Nigerians to buy drugs from only licensed pharmacies and medicine stores and refrain from self-medication.
According to her, the key objective of the 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.
She noted that the dissemination of food and drug safety information is an important aspect of NAFDAC’s regulatory work.
Mrs Adeyeye further hinted that the federal agency has engaged the services of a project consultant, MMCC, to drive the sensitisation campaigns, adding that the campaign materials are ready to be deployed on the field.
The NAFDAC boss added that the campaign is aimed at protecting Nigerians against the deleterious effects of unwholesome food, falsified medical products, harmful cosmetics, poor waters and other substandard regulated products.
As stated by her, the mass media, youth organisations and civil societies in the pilot state will be at the forefront of the campaigns, adding that the target audiences are market women and men, road transport workers and employers, community youth organisations and students.
The ultimate goal of this alarm is to ensure that the various communities take ownership of the care and management of their own health.
