‘Sindh to ban sale of uniodised salt; draft of law finalised’

KARACHI – The draft of the law to ban sale of uniodised salt and for making salt iodisation compulsory has been finalised and is set to be presented before the Sindh Assembly, Special Health Secretary Dr Suresh Kumar said on Monday. Addressing a public awareness seminar, which was organised by the provincial chapter of the MicroNutrient Initiative (MI) in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, Kumar said that compulsory salt iodisation is one of the prerequisites to curb iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) that continue to pose a risk to more than 50 percent of the Pakistani population.
“The fact that iodine is vital for normal body growth, physical wellbeing and mental development, makes it necessary that cost-effective interventions are promoted and adopted,” he said.
Reiterating that the most cost-effective solution to combat IDD is using only iodised salt, Kumar said that the Health Department is committed to eliminate iodine deficiency. “The government will also ensure production of 100 percent iodised salt for edible purposes,” he said. He appreciated the MI for its support at provincial and federal levels in dealing with the problem of micronutrient deficiencies, and in promoting the use of iodised salt and its health benefits. National Programme Manager (NPM) Nutrition Wing Dr Baseer Khan Achakzai said that addressing the problem of micronutrient deficiencies is a national priority.
He said that the government is committed to achieving universal salt iodisation (USI) by 2013 and eliminating IDD by 2015. “Currently, the USI programme covers 102 districts with a beneficiary population of 154 million, which is 90 percent of the country’s total population,” Achakzai said. He thanked the MI for its guidance and continuous technical and financial assistance to revitalise the USI programme in Pakistan, and plans to expand the programme in the remaining districts of Sindh. “Malnutrition, especially micronutrient malnutrition, is a widespread problem and has negative implications for development,” NPM IDD-USI for the MI Dr Khawaja Masuood Ahmed said.
He said that iodine deficiency in pregnant women could cause miscarriages, stillbirths and low-weight infants with decreased chances of survival, whereas children born to iodine-deficient mothers are also at a high risk of permanent mental and physical retardation before birth, poor school performance due to low intelligence quotient (IQ) and learning disabilities. “The MI has helped establish laboratories in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Sukkur to monitor adequate iodisation,” Nutrition Focal Person for Sindh Health Department Dr Dureshehwar Khan said. “Out of the new 14 target districts, 13 have passed the legislation banning sale of uniodised salt, and 90 percent of the salt produced in target districts and the salt procured from Punjab is iodised,” MI Provincial Manager Dr Ahsan Bhurgri said.
He said that the MI is an international not-for-profit organisation dedicated to ensure that the world’s most vulnerable people, especially women and children, in the developing countries consume vitamins and minerals they need to survive and thrive. The MI’s mission is to develop, implement and monitor innovative, cost-effective and sustainable solutions for hunger in partnership with others. Bhurgri said that iodine deficiency is the leading but preventable cause of brain damage and it could significantly lower the IQ of the local population. The most severe impacts of iodine deficiency occur during foetal development and in the first few years of life, he said. Globally, 38 million infants are born without the protection that iodine offers the growing brain, and around 18 million are mentally impaired as a result.