Marketing of skin-lightening creams in Ghana and adolescent health

The use of skin-lightening creams poses a significant risk to adolescent health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries like Ghana. These cosmetic products, designed to chemically lighten darker skin tones for a fairer appearance, contain ingredients such as corticosteroids that can potentially harm the renal, nervous, and endocrine systems. Studies have also documented the adverse mental health effects these products can have on body image and identity issues, especially among adolescents.

To advance our understanding of how these products affect youth, AMPATH Ghana launched a study to examine the impact of advertising techniques on these creams, and their use among adolescent males and females in Ghana.

 Under the leadership of Dr. Omni Cassidy from the Department of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, our research team comprises a team of collaborators: Dr. Marie Bragg, Dr. Laud Boateng, and Dr. Rajesh Vedanthan from the Department of Population Health, and Dr. Eliasu Mumuni and Prof. Alhassan Abdul-Mumin from the University for Development Studies and Tamale Teaching Hospital in Ghana. With funding from the NYU Collaborative Center in Children's Environmental Health Research and Translation, our study is poised to produce groundbreaking data on the marketing of skin-lightening creams in Ghana, specifically targeting adolescents. These findings can inform counter-marketing campaigns and policy regulation efforts to mitigate the harmful effects of cosmetic industry ads.