Mr Mumuni Sulemana, Northern Regional Director of the National Youth Authority (NYA) has cautioned students at Senior High Schools (SHS) in the region to desist from bleaching and toning their skin.
He said the health implications of skin bleaching or toning could go beyond the skin, leading to other health complications such as liver, kidney or heart failure, skin cancer, body odour, and brain damage amongst others.
He gave the caution when the NYA presented its survey report on the prevalence of skin bleaching among students in SHSs in Tamale.
The survey was conducted in five SHSs in the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA) and the Sagnarigu Municipality.
Mr Sulemana said the purpose of the survey was to identify the causes of bleaching among students, ascertain the dangers associated with bleaching, and to recommend remedies to help address the rate of bleaching of the skin in the various SHSs.
Views of 20 students were sampled from each of the SHSs as part of the survey.
The survey showed that 83 percent of the respondents were not aware of the adverse effects of skin bleaching, 93 per cent thought bleaching was common among females, 56 per cent of female students bleached their skin because they wanted to look attractive to the opposite sex and 16 per cent of females had ever been advised to practice skin bleaching.
The survey recommended intensive education in schools, religious and other social gatherings on the adverse effects of skin bleaching.
It also called on the Food and Drugs Authority to ban the importation of all bleaching creams and soaps into the country.
Mr Alhassan Mohammed Saani, Assistant Headmaster in charge of Academic Affairs at Business SHS lamented about the high rate of skin bleaching amongst students and called on stakeholders to help stop the practice through education.
Miss Issahaku Rahamatu, a student of Business SHS said the report was a revelation and had exposed her colleague girls to some of the dangers associated with bleaching of the skin.
GNA
