FCT tops states non-compliant to Code of Marketing Breast Milk Substitutes
- nationalpilot
- Aug 9, 2015
- 1 min read
A compliance monitoring survey conducted by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) shows that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) tops states non-compliant with the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes (ICMBMS).
The survey report made available to news men over the weekend, revealed apparent violations of the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s code, although there were disparities in violations in terms of rural-urban demography, the highest violations were reported in the FCT.
The WHO code, which Nigerian is signatory to and has ratified, bans the public advertising of breast milk substitutes (BMS) and the distribution of free samples to mothers, their families or health workers.
It also bans the promotion of BMS in healthcare facilities, words or pictures idealising artificial feeding or pictures of infants on labels of infant milk containers among other things.
But analysis of the data in FCT showed that 25 per cent of health workers surveyed, received free samples from company representatives, while 8 per cent of health workers agreed to have received sponsorship from infant food marketers.
About 99.5 per cent of healthcare workers interviewed in Jigawa and Zamfara States were not aware of the code and 15 per cent of health facilities in the FCT had promotional materials on them.
According to the report, while the WHO code and national regulation recognises the need for infant food manufacturers to provide scientific and factual information to health professionals, companies consistently cross the line between providing product information and blatant advertising to health workers.
Yorumlar