Health hazards: NAFDAC warns against buying drugs from hawkers

National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has advised people to desist from patronizing hawkers of medical products to prevent aggravated health hazards and untimely death.

Speaking during the flag-off of a sensitisation campaign among people in the north-central zone in Ilorin, the director-general of the NAFDAC, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, said that the campaign aimed to protect people against negative effects of unwholesome food, fake medical products, harmful cosmetics, poor water and other substandard regulated products.

The NAFDAC boss, who said that quality health could weaken COVID-19 in the body, advised patients to buy medicines from only licensed pharmacies and medicine stores.

Speaking through the North Central director of the agency, Mrs Bolaji Abayomi, the agency said that dissemination of safety information on food and drugs is an important aspect of the agency’s regulatory work, adding that information is key to the prevention of illnesses.

Professor Adeyeye also said that the campaign themes intended to address such public health challenges as abuse of codeine and self-medication, especially among youths.

“Others include dangerous effects of using kerosene tanker to load groundnut oil, the 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.”

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 the good health of their children.

She also highlighted the dangers of the wrong use of pesticides and insecticides, the wrong use of chemicals and their hazardous effects, as well as the 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.

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Health hazards: NAFDAC warns against buying drugs from hawkers

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