The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has commenced training for health regulatory officers in Kaduna State on reporting violations of International Code of Marketing Breast Milk Substitutes (BMS).
The State Coordinator of the Agency, Dadi Natim-Mullah said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Kaduna.
He explained that NAFDAC regulatory officers in the state would be trained on how to identify, document and report BMS violations.
Natim-Mullah added that the objectives was to generate data, process and present reports on such violations in the state.
According to him, the training would raise the awareness of regulators on the use of data generated from field activities for informed decisions on monitoring and evaluation of inappropriate marketing practices in the state.
The coordinator said that the training would empower the regulators with adequate tools and knowledge for monitoring compliance to BMS Code.
He noted that the training was necessary in view of the importance of Optimal and Young Child Feeding in the eradication of malnutrition among children under five.
“During our quarterly review meeting on Breast Milk Substitute, NAFDAC Kaduna State office and other Nutrition Partners came to a consensus that, there is a wide knowledge gap among various stakeholders.
“Especially the lead Government Regulators, in areas of adequate and effective ways to identify, document, and report violations observed on the International Code of Marketing of (BMS).
“Internationally accepted best practices of reporting and documenting violations by manufacturers, marketers, retailers and other health care professionals on BMS have been established.
“There is therefore an urgent need to train and expose NAFDAC regulators to the current standard procedure for identification, documentation and reporting of violations on the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes using these internationally recognised and accepted tools.”
According to him, the training is in collaboration with Save the Children International (SCI) and will be on data entry violations using UNICEF Netcode Toolkit.
He said the UNICEF Netcode Toolkit is a field surveillance of violations and feedback review, the report of which is uploaded in the Netcode. (NAN)
