Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has advocated for salt reduction in industrial food to reduce the health implications and burden that Nigerians are exposed to due to their salt intake.
CAPPA made the request during a one-day Journalism training on Salt Reduction.
According to the Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance, NCDs such as cardiovascular disease are the primary cause of death and disability worldwide. Hypertension, mainly caused by an increased intake of salt and sodium, accounts for 12% of deaths in Nigeria. It is to this effect that CAPPA is leading the campaign to reduce salt consumption.
While delivering his welcome remarks, the Executive Director of CAPPA, Mr. Akinbode Oluwafemi explained that Nigeria currently records an estimated daily salt consumption reaching up to 5.8 grams per day, which exceeds the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended limit of 2 grams of sodium per day or less than 5 grams of salt per day, equivalent to just one teaspoon of salt daily.
Mr. Oluwafemi said, “our role as a health-focused civil society organization is to help the public understand the dangers of their choices, especially when consumption is driven by a gap in knowledge when it comes to food.”
Oluwafemi urged journalists to help Nigerians understand the gimmicks of the food production industry that promote unhealthy foods as the norm.
He added that, “as journalists, you have key roles to play in this campaign to achieve the necessary salt reduction target for a healthy nation.”
Speaking about the importance of the training, Bukola Olukemi-Odele, Program Officer, Salt Reduction and Cardiovascular Health at CAPPA shared that the training will provide journalists with the knowledge to drive conversations around salt reduction policies, promoting salt reduction and industry monitoring.
Olukemi-Odele said it is important that processed and packaged foods don’t exceed specific sodium limits to safeguard the health of Nigerians.
She said that “research has shown that high salt consumption causes hypertension and hypertension is the major risk factor for stroke, kidney disease and several other non-communicable diseases, a way to maintain normal pressure by reducing salt/sodium intake.
“The media is a key stakeholder in influencing public health and in order to achieve salt reduction we intend to do mass media campaigns to ensure that every Nigerian takes responsibility for their health by reducing their salt intake.
She further explained that salt reduction is a cost-effective public health intervention that can help to bring down the burden of non-communicable diseases in Nigeria as well as help Nigerians live free of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.
Olukemi-Odele who called on policymakers to take action and set mandatory salt targets for all processed and packaged foods in Nigeria in 2024, also charged that the public should be aware of the public health consequences of high salt consumption, take responsibility and make health choices that will be beneficial for the future ahead of them.
On the other hand, Director, Network for Health Equity & Development (NHED) and Technical Adviser – Salt Reduction Campaign, Dr. Jerome Mafeni, said the Nigeria salt reduction target coalition includes non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, few academia, international organizations that have come together to track and promote the campaign around salt reduction and diet in Nigeria.
Dr Mafeni added that the coalition is working to ensure that NAFDAC takes responsibility to ensure that existing food regulations are in line with the salt targets for commercially produced foods to reduce the amount of salt that the public consumes knowingly or unknowingly.
He explained that the coalition is also working with the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure that the regulations that are coming to place will also provide guides on how food products are labeled and ensure that the public are aware of foods that are of very high salt content and injurious to health.
For her part, Asst. Project Manager, Cardiovascular Research Unit, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Ms. Vanessa Alfa said, “we need to engage in widespread awareness, telling people to learn how to eat healthy, to reduce the amount of salt in their food; snack and conventional foods.”
Ms Alfa said, “one of the primary actions that is expected is for food products to have less salt, we are talking about products manufactured in Nigeria because we don’t have control over imported products.”
Regarding the adverts of food products, Alfa said “there is a need for restricting the appearance of these adverts on contents that children watch, involving children in the adverts is not good enough as it ruins our public health as a nation. It’s high time that our regulatory agencies rise up to restrict the promotion of such products.”
She also encouraged the general public to make a conscious decision to reduce the amount of salt in the food that they consume.
The National Salt Reduction Campaign project implemented by CAPPA funded by the Global Health Advocacy Incubator and the Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED) as an implementing partner.