ISLAMABAD – Around 2.1 million children are born with mental disorders each year because of iodine deficiency in pregnant women in Pakistan. According to health experts, iodine deficiency in the mother leads to stillbirth, miscarriage and birth of children with mental disorders, lack of cognitive abilities and congenital abnormalities like deafness, dumbness and stunted growth. Urinary iodine test results revealed that around 36 percent of mothers and 23 percent of pre-school children were suffering from severe iodine deficiency in the country, they added. The utilisation of iodised salt in food was only 17 percent in Pakistani households despite 56.4 percent respondents being aware of the benefits of consuming iodised salt. They said goitre rates among school-age children were 4.3 percent in urban and 8.2 percent in rural areas of the country.
According to a national nutrition survey, the national prevalence of goitre among women was 21 percent, they added. Experts said iodising edible salt was an easy and inexpensive way of providing iodine to the people. They added that there were still some problems which needed to be addressed such as low consumer demand, lack of quality control, absence of legislation and low production of iodised salt. They urged public and private institutions, individuals, parents and children to come forward and join hands to eliminate disorders caused by iodine deficiency from the country.
The experts highlighted the role of the media in creating awareness among the people about the issue and regarded the use of iodised salt as the most common way to prevent such pervasive public health problems.
They said that the three-pronged strategy to address the iodine deficiency in the country’s population included legislation for universal salt iodisation, supply side intervention and demand creation activities.
