The National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control on Thursday declared a state of emergency on bleaching after establishing that Nigeria has been ranked first in cases of bleaching.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, raised the alarm on the menace of bleaching creams in Nigeria, saying the problem has become a national emergency that calls for serious attention.
She made the remarks while flagging off a media sensitisation workshop on Dangers of Bleaching Creams and Regulatory Control organised by the Association of Nigerian Health Journalists in Kano on Thursday.
She said that 77 per cent of those engaged in bleaching in Nigeria are women, saying this calls for a multifaceted approach in fighting the menace of bleaching creams, which she warned have fatal health hazards.
“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,â€