NAFDAC Moves for Breastmilk Substitutes

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC has inaugurated the Breast-milk Substitutes (BMS) State Multi-Sectoral Technical Committees across 32 States to implement the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes in Nigeria.

The inauguration of the BMS State teams is the Agency’s renewed efforts to implement and enforce the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and the National BMS Regulations in Nigeria.

The Director General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye charged the teams to lead the effort in their respective States to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and the National BMS Regulations

According to her, these frameworks are crucial to protecting and promoting breastfeeding in Nigeria, a practice to improve the health and well-being of children and mothers.

She further stated that breastfeeding is key to public health, foundational to infant and young child health and development, supports cognitive and psychosocial development, and protects against infectious and non-communicable diseases.

‘Mothers also experience health benefits from breastfeeding which include protection against breast cancers, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and weight regulation,’ she said, adding that breastfeeding is a dynamic living system, it is species-specific, evolutionary, and adaptive. ‘Breastmilk is a tailor-made immune protection, containing hormones and other bio-actives that cannot be replicated in any substitute product.’

The DG stated that these undeniable benefits of breastfeeding necessitate the need to protect, promote and support its optimum practice by playing our roles in ensuring that the provisions of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and our national BMS regulations are effectively implemented, monitored, and enforced.

The NAFDAC boss however, described as unacceptable and unsatisfactory the preliminary statistics from a national survey that indicated a retrogressive progression in the percentage of children that were breastfed within one hour of birth in Nigeria.

Prof Adeyeye noted that the result means that every stakeholder at the national and subnational levels should focus more on optimal breastfeeding to improve the nutritional well-being of infants and young children and contribute to their life expectancy and growth.  She urged each BMS State Multi-Sectoral Technical Committee to be committed, dedicated, and diligent.

She explained that the establishment of the BMS State Multi-Sectoral Teams is a key milestone to achieving our shared objectives, adding that the State teams, comprising a broad range of relevant stakeholders, will be instrumental in ensuring that the BMS Code is effectively implemented at the State and Local Government levels across the country.

She commended the first batch of BMS State Multi-Sectoral Technical Committees that had already been inaugurated; Kaduna, Yobe, Borno, Lagos, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), stressing that ‘’today’s session brings onboard an additional 32 States, to ensure we have comprehensive coverage across Nigeria.’’

The Director of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Eva Edwards, described the event as an achievement in the ongoing implementation of the National Strategy for the Implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes in Nigeria (2021-2025) which sets out the establishment of State Multi-sectoral Technical Committees as a priority action to provide technical support on the Code.

‘’We have physically inaugurated State BMS teams in Kaduna, Yobe, Borno, Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),’’ she said, adding that the virtual inauguration session for 32 BMS State Multi-sectoral Technical Committees ‘’is a testament to our joint commitment, resolve, and resilience to the cause of improving our national nutrition situation for infants and young children, overcoming funding and logistic challenges, and ensuring that we reach every State, regardless.

’’She emphasised that the stakeholders’ collective mission is to protect and promote optimal breastfeeding practices, stressing a determination to succeed, charging each BMS State Multi-Sectoral Technical Committee to realise that their role is critical in the ongoing efforts to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding across Nigeria. She urged them to become champions for the cause of protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding in their respective States and to bring on board more champions. She stated, “You are the backbone of this movement, and your work is essential in ensuring that we create an environment that upholds the rights of mothers and infants to be breastfed.”