NAFDAC
Pharmacists laud Buhari for appointing Adeyeye agency’s DG
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) yesterday took its advocacy on implementation of Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (CMBS) to media houses.
Assistant Chief Regulatory Officer at the Food Safety & Applied Nutrition Directorate of NAFDAC, Omega Peace Udoka, during a visit to The Guardian Newspapers Headquarters, Rutam House, Lagos, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) adopted the CMBS as a resolution in 1981.
That resolution, he said, was to enable countries to implement the CMBS following increasing ill health and deaths of over a million children yearly due to lack of breastfeeding.
Udoka and her team, who was received by The Guardian’s Human Resources Manager, Dada Ashafa, said the code was adopted by Nigeria in 1981 and made into law in 1986, amended in 1990, 1999, 2005 to make it more effective.
The code stipulated exclusive breastfeeding for six months, followed with complementary feeding after 180 days with continued breastfeeding till the child reaches three years.
She said the role of the media in code implementation includes knowing that the advertisement of Breastmilk Substitutes (BMS) is banned in Nigeria and reject any advert material or advertisement on BMS.
She added that NAFDAC would not issue advert permits on BMS and that the media should know the Code and Regulations on Control of marketing of BMS and other related products 2017.
Udoka urged media houses to train their staff on optimal Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and the Code; promote programmes on optimal feeding of IYCF; and establish crèches in media houses for breastfeeding mothers.
Meanwhile, the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari on the appointment of a pharmacist, Professor Moji Christianah Adeyeye, as the substantive Director General of NAFDAC in line with the enabling statute establishing the agency.
Adeyeye, a Professor of Pharmaceutics and Drug Product Development and Evaluation at the college of Pharmacy, Roosevelt University in Schaumburg, Illinois, is a fellow of Nigeria Academy of Science (NAS), Academic Research fellow of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (NACP) and fellow, Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy, among others.
