NAFDAC Headquarters Abuja

Mrs Benedicta Ughanze, the Assistant Director, Food Safety and Applied Nutrition of NAFDAC, has said that poor feeding practices is a factor contributing to the high child morbidity and mortality statistics in Nigeria.

Ughanze said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

She also commended the media for its critical role in the promotion of code of compliance on proper feeding.

She said the code aimed at protecting and promoting breastfeeding by ensuring appropriate marketing and distribution of breastmilk substitute.

“Ideally, the media serves several essential roles in our society. Their primary purpose is to inform the public, providing citzens with the information needed to make thoughtul decisions about the environment and policies.

” The media acts as watchdogs checking actvities going on in our environment.So they can be used to promote the code of compliance,” she said.

She described breastfeeding as the optimal method of feeding for the great majority of infants, saying it must be protected, promoted and supported.

“Unsuitable products, such as sweetened condensed milk, should not be promoted for babies.

“Manufacturers and distributors of breastmilk substitutes and related products shall not sponsor meetings of health professionals and scientific meetings

Ughanze also said according to provisions, no healthcare facility should allow manufacturers or distributors of the breastmilk substitutes to use their facilities for commercial events, contests or campaigns.

She said manufacturers and distributors should comply with the Code’s provisions even if their countries had not adopted laws or other measures.

Ughanze, however, urged the media to serve as one of the foot soldiers in promoting infant young child feeding from grassroot level, adding that it was key priority in the effort to improve survival, growth, and development of children with equity.