Colgate Partners FG on National Noma Day

Oral care brand, Colgate Tolaram, has joined forces with the federal government to mark the 2019 National Noma Day.

The partnership seeks to strengthen awareness on the disease and curb its spread.

With this year’s theme as: ‘Timely Recognition Averts Deformity’, the federal government has assured that the process of overcoming the scourge was in full gear as could be seen with the the newly launched Noma Policy Document and the National Triennial Action Plan.

Speaking at an event to mark the day in Abuja, Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, expressed worry about the prevalence of the disease especially in north-western states, including Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa.

He explained that the ailment could be reduced and even be prevented with improved awareness and nutrition.

“We need to promote exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of a child’s life, education on pre-natal care and personal hygiene, oral hygiene, timely immunisation against common childhood diseases, improved environmental sanitation and poverty reduction,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, a representative of Colgate, Opeyemi Awojobi, restated the company’s determination to end the disease in Nigeria. He said that while the company was not resting on its oars to achieve this, it saw the need to double its efforts when it visited the Noma specialist hospital in Sokoto recently.

“It was emotional seeing innocent children suffering from not only the excruciating pain but also the life-time disfigurement it leaves behind.

“Ignorance about the disease is another problem militating against the efforts of timely management. Colgate Tolaram has committed to working with the government to champion a campaign on oral hygiene targeted at over 15 million children across Nigeria by the end of next year,” he said.

Noma , also known as Cancrum Oris is an infective destruction of tissue of the cheek, mouth or nose and at times the whole face when left untreated. According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, the causative agents of Noma were majorly malnutrition, coinfections - measles and malaria and poor oral hygiene.

Also are a number of social and environmental factors such as maternal malnutrition and closely-spaced pregnancies that result in offspring with increasingly weakened immune systems.