Dateline Health Nigeria: Supplement No. 3: HIV/AIDS contamination of sanitary pads?
odutola a
contamination of sanitary pads?
Why would anyone contaminate commercially marketed
sanitary pads in Nigeria with the AIDS virus?
Recently in Nigeria, the Special Adviser to the
President on Women Affairs and Youth Development,
Chief Titi Ajanaku, broke a story alleging
contamination of a specific brand of female sanitary
pads by the AIDS virus. The following reports speak to
different facets of this allegation.
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. AIDS scare over American firm's free sanitary pads
to students
. Govt. asks firm to withdraw 142,750 sanitary pads. ·
. Sanitary Pads: Procter and Gamble Refutes Claim of
AIDS Spread.
. Women Affairs Minister Cautions on Use of Sanitary
Pads
1. AIDS SCARE OVER AMERICAN FIRM'S FREE SANITARY PADS
TO STUDENTS
User of a brand of sanitary pad which is a house-hold
name in Nigeria and manufactured by an American
multinational drug firm may run a very high risk of
contracting the dreaded Acquired Immuno-Deficiency
Syndrome (AIDS). Tests conducted on samples of the pad
distributed free to secondary school students in
Maiduguri and undergraduates of the University of
Maiduguri by agents of the firm have revealed that the
pads are infested with the Human Immuno-Deficiency
Virus (HIV). The tests were conducted at the Maiduguri
General Hospital. The shocking revelation is coming
barely two months after Nigerians were jolted by
revelation of the fatal trial of 'Pfizer product',
Trovafloxacin (oral and I.V) on 200 Nigerian children
in Kano in 1996. Special Adviser to the President on
Women Affairs and Youth Development, Chief Titi
Ajanaku, raised the alarm when she dispatched a letter
to the Director-General of the National Institute of
Pharmaceutical Research and Development UNIPRD,
detailing the shocking discovery and ordering further
investigation. According to the letter, suspicions
were raised when some girls who used the pads suffered
mysterious itches and rashes. Subsequent tests carried
out at the Maiduguri General Hospital on the pads
showed that the pads were HIV positive. The letter
from Ajanaku to UNIPRD read thus: "During my tour of
the North-East zone in December 2000, the director of
Planning, Research and Statistics of the Ministry of
Health, Maiduguri, Borno State, complained to me
verbally about the above named product. Hajia Kaka
El-Yakub (DPRS) informed me that the marketer of
Always sanitary Pad, sent their representatives to
distribute free samples of the sanitary towels to the
girls of the secondary schools and the University of
Maiduguri female students. It was discovered
accidentally when water poured on an unused pad, that
the solvent appeared to be mucous. Further
investigations revealed that some girls who used these
samples experienced rashes, itching and other
complications. The students reported to the school
authority, while the school in turn reported the case
to the state Ministry of Education. The ministry of
education contacted the Director, Planning Research
and Statistics (DPRS) of the Ministry of Health who
advised them to liaise with the Director,
Pharmaceutical Sciences; he advised the parties
concerned to meet the permanent secretary, Ministry of
Women Affairs, since it involved women. Both the
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and
DPRD Ministry of Health also took the issue to the
wife of the executive Governor of Borno State verbally
when they visited Her Excellency to break their fast
during the Ramadan. Her Excellency also advised them
to stop using the product pending when a full
investigation would have been made on the sanitary
pad. The DPRS Ministry of Health said on further
investigations that the sanitary towel was tested at
the Maiduguri General Hospital laboratory and it
proved HIV positive though the result was not given to
her. Due to the sensitivity of the case as it involves
the lives of our female populace, I am writing this
letter to you for proper investigation on this
product, as it is presently in the market and if
proven true would endanger the lives of our women."
Source: The Guardian, Wednesday, February 21, 2001,
p.1-2. By James Ezereonwu. Keywords: Nigeria.
HIV/AIDS. Unsafe sanitary pads. Sanitary producrs.
Contamination of sanitary pads.
2. GOVT. ASKS FIRM TO WITHDRAW 142,750 SANITARY PADS.
Ahead of extensive rounds of clinical tests on some
suspected deleterious sanitary pads in circulation,
federal authorities recently ordered the withdrawal of
some 142,750 sample packs of the product. They are to
be destroyed by the National Agency for Food and Drugs
Administration and Control (NAFDAC). A member of the
agency's interim management committee, Dr. Evans
Chidomere who addressed journalists recently in Abuja,
confirmed that the Ministry of Health was also
investigating the allegations. Special Adviser to the
President on Women Affairs and Youth Development,
Chief Titi Ajanaku had in a letter to the National
Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development
(NIPRD) alleged that some of the products earlier
distributed free by the manufacturer in Maiduguri,
Borno State caused irritation on the users. She
further alleged that on clinical tests the pads were
suspected to be capable of transferring the dreaded
HIV/AIDS. "NAFDAC has ordered the company to stop the
distribution of the product and to recall them,"
Chidomere said. He spoke further: "The company was
repackaging the products into pack of twos. These were
the packs that they were distributing as promotion. We
have directed them to recall those products from all
over the country. Recently they told NAFDAC that they
have recalled all of them. A total of 142,750 samples
have been recalled." Admitting that NAFDAC received a
consumer complaint regarding the products, Chidomere
said: "Consent to forfeiture means that we will
destroy those samples that have been recalled. This is
what we do when there are bad samples of products and
they are recalled. They would be forfeited to the
agency and they would be destroyed." He stressed that
NAFDAC had already carried out trial of the chemical
and bacteriological content of the products and that
final results would soon be released. Chidomere
disclosed that NAFDAC does not have facilities for HIV
tests, but said that the samples had been sent to the
appropriate laboratory, to ascertain possible
virological contents. "On the analysis, we have
obtained preliminary results and we are awaiting the
final results. We must say that NAFDAC officers in the
field have acted with despatch immediately we got the
directive from the ministry, "he said. Chidomere
briefed the press alongside Dr. Abdulsalam Nassidi,
the Director of Special Project in the Ministry of
Health and said: "If you have used the pad (repacked
"ULTRA" sanitary pads) in packs of two and you are
itching, please come forward to any teaching hospital
for test." Giving further clarification on the
product, he said: "Let me quickly explain that the
product is registered by NAFDAC. But the company was
repackaging the registered packs into twos."
Commenting further on the steps NAFDAC had adopted to
investigate the allegation, Chidomere said: "So far,
our laboratories have carried out chemical and
bacteriological test and not virological. HIV is
virological test. The parameters so far tested by our
laboratory are satisfactory. We have sent the samples
to the laboratory that have the facilities to test for
HIV and I want to assure Nigerians that soon the
result will be out."
Source: The Guardian.. Thursday, February 22, 2001, p.
80. By: Martins Oloja. Keywords: Nigeria. HIV/AIDS and
sanitary pads. Sanitary products recall. NAFDAC
3. SANITARY PADS: PROCTER AND GAMBLE REFUTES CLAIM OF
AIDS SPREAD
A consumer product manufacturing company, Procter &
Gamble has described "the claim that the use of Always
Sanitary pads can spread HIV virus as "completely
unfounded." The denial came barely hours before the
National Agency Food and Drug Administration and
Control (NAFDAC) ordered that the suspect products be
recalled from the market. The company was reacting to
the reported Federal Government order for the
withdrawal of the product from the market on the claim
that it has the propensity of spreading the Acquired
Immune deficiency Syndrome(AIDS). The company said in
a statement issued recently in Lagos that: "Always is
sold in over 100 countries around the world with
nearly two decades of safe usage by millions of
women". It further said in the refutal that the
product has "passed all regulatory requirements in
countries such as the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Egypt,
Nigeria, USA, Japan, among many other ", insisting
that "Always cannot spread "AIDS". Procter & Gamble,
however, expressed its readiness to cooperate with the
various agencies about the safety of the product.
NAFDAC had said on Wednesday that it would destroy
about 142,750 Always sanitary pads for the alleged
danger of spreading diseases among users.
Source: Thisday. Friday, February 23, 2001, p. 7. By
Ikenna Emewu. Keywords: Nigeria. HIV/AIDS. NAFDAC.
Sanitary pads.
4. WOMEN AFFAIRS MINISTER CAUTIONS ON USE OF SANITARY
PADS
The Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Ismail has
lent her voice to the growing number of calls by
concerned Nigerians cautioning women to be wary of the
use of 'Always' Sanitary Pads until conclusive tests
on the safety of the products are announced by NAFDAC.
Speaking in Abuja recently, Hajiya Ismail said that
apart from the female students who received free
samples of the pads from Procter and Gamble, some
other women had also lodged complaints about the pads
which they claimed cause rashes and itching. "You know
about two days ago some women came to make a
complaint, so it might not only be the ones
distributed to the girls, but it seems there are a
lots of such sanitary pads in the market and so what
comes out clearly is that women should not use those
sanitary pads now" she said. She also said that " so
many people have carried out tests on the brand and
they have found some substances like salt granules and
it surely looks abnormal - which may be some form of
malproduction. The Minister then went ahead to carry
out a simple test. She poured water on a sample of the
'Always Ultra' Sanitary pads and it was discovered
that the pad swelled to such an abnormal size with a
great quantity of crystal-like granules on the
product, which increased by the minute. She emphasized
that caution is the watchword until the results of the
NAFDAC tests are released. Hajiya Ismail however
hailed the steps taken by NAFDAC to recall the
suspected product off the market as a step in the
right direction as it ensures that Nigeria does not
become a dumping ground for substandard products. Her
words: "the beauty of democracy is that things don't
get hidden anymore. Nigeria you know is a dumping
ground for all sorts of fake harmful product-so you
know these are the steps we should try to encourage.
Believe me, we can stamp out such things because this
could go beyond sanitary pads-it could go to drugs,
cosmetics etc., all those things that are very harmful
to our health." Meanwhile, contrary to reports that
the product may contain HIV virus, officials of the
Ministry of Health have debunked such allegations on
the ground that the Virus does not survive long
outside the cells of the host. Although Dr. Evans
Chidomere, a representative of NAFDAC, admitted that
preliminary tests conducted by the Agency in different
zones reveal that there are no deleterious chemical
and bacteriological results, the Federal Government is
offering free medical services to women who may
experience rashes as a result of using the product. In
addition a total of 142,750 packed samples of the
Always Ultra Sanitary Pads have been withdrawn from
all over the country.
Source: Thisday.Saturday, February 24 2001, p. 4. By
Iyefu Adoba. Keywords: Nigeria. HIV/AIDS and sanitary
pads. Women Affairs. NAFDAC. Health advocacy. Dumping
of goods.
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