More than 200,000 Nigerian die annually of food poisoning in Nigeria.This assertion was made Tiesday by Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Mami,
Registrar/CEO, Health Records Board of Nigeria(HRORBN).
He disclosed this in a paper he presented at the Raw Material Research and Development Council, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria on ‘The Role of Professional Regulatory Bodies in Preventive Health Care Delivery in Nigeria’.
The CEO of Nigeria’s Health Records Board said, “Food poisoning or foodborne disease (FBD) is one of the main problems in public health worldwide.”
While quoting the WHO, he said, each year 600 million people around the world, or 1 out of 10, become ill after consuming contaminated food. Among all these people, 420,000 die, including 125,000 children under 5 years of age, due to the vulnerability of this population to develop a diarrheal syndrome, about 43% of FBDs occur in these patients. It is an illness that comes from eating contaminated food.
Specifically he said, “In Nigeria, more than 200,000 persons die of food poison annually, caused by contaminated foods. Sadly, the onset of symptoms may occur within minutes to weeks and often presents itself as flu-like symptoms, as the ill person may experience symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, or fever.
“Because the symptoms are often flu-like, many people may not recognize that the illness is caused by harmful bacteria or other pathogens in food (FSIS, 2013).
“In the environment, there are polluting substances that can cause adverse reactions in human being when entering the body through different ways (ingestion, inhalation, injection, or absorption).
“The main pollutants can be poisons, chemical compounds, toxic gases and bacterial toxins. These can be found in different places and their effects depend on the dose and exposure time.
He noted that Institute of Public Analyst in Nigeria (IPAN) is statutorily charged with the responsibility of regulating the practice of Laboratory Analysis as well as registering and regulating Analytical Laboratories in Nigeria. In the discharge of its mandate, the Institute trains, examines, and registers/licenses appropriately qualified professionals before they can legally commence the practice of the profession.
Mami said IPAN is a unique multi-disciplinary professional regulatory body, a major stakeholder in the preventive health sector and in the promotion of the quality of both domestic and international consumer goods, products and trade.
IPAN also has the mandate to build capacity, expedite and conduct research and development, improve standardization and coordination in different levels; these can only be achieved with good practices and principles that reflect a universal model of legal, consistent, independent, impartial, proportional, flexible, clear, efficient and transparent practices.
Significantly, he said “IPAN has a key role in performing substantial method research and development in response to new and emerging contaminants and toxins and extending to new matrices and sample types.
“IPAN plays key roles in testing food and cosmetics for compliance with the relevant legislation and guidelines; thus becoming even more important in public health and consumer protection by analyzing the chemical and microbiological content of food to ensure that it is safe for human consumption.
Alhaji Ibrahim Mami however observed that Regulatory bodies in the health care delivery sector face challenges. According to him, “Some of the challenges that surface despite the vital role of the regulatory bodies are;
“Lack of budgetary allocation to execute some functions like monitoring and evaluation and regulatory intervention where necessary.
“Weak legal backing in terms of enforcement.
“Concentrating more on the service delivery areas and neglecting the regulatory body that should regulate the activities of the practice areas”.
While concluding his paper, the Registrar said, “Since health is (a) fundamental human right, the right to health entails that all services, goods and facilities are available, accessible, acceptable and of good quality. The Regulatory authority like IPAN plays important role in ensuring the quality, safety, efficacy and performance of comsumer products.
“The rate at which people die from preventable diseases like food poisoning is quite alarming, the guiding principle of preventive medicine is: “Prevention is the best medicine” and the role of IPAN is key toward averting this menace in the populace.”
