Iodine deficiency leads to brain damage: Dr Salma

May 22, 2013

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Iodine deficiency has affected around 11 million children in the world and 43 million people are reported to have suffered brain damage due to its deficiency.
Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) Child Specialist and Dean of Faculty of Pediatrics, Dr Salma Shaikh said this while talking the local media.
She said care was better than cure as such more should be invested for taking preventive measures to reduce the financial burden that the government was incurring on curative programmes.
She said at present 40 percent women and 60 percent children were affected in Sindh province alone due to iodine deficiency because of lack of awareness, wrong perceptions about iodine salt, non-implementation of laws while inadequate performances of concerned management on government and industrial side were the main reasons behind poor usage of iodine salt.
Due to the importance of iodine in our nutrition, the government had made legislation in 1994 for its compulsory usage but unfortunately implementation of this law had not been made accordingly and the medical community not could play a vital role in advocacy for usage of iodine salt at grassroots level, she said.
She said it was surprising that more than 60 percent population of the province were not using iodine salt because of unawareness and lack of implementation of the law.
She further informed that iodine deficiency causes mental retardation, poor physical growth, deaf and dumbness, short stature and goiter. She said all the salt producing factories without iodine must be directed to produce salt with iodine. Besides, the awareness about breast-feeding must be accelerated with a view to avoid deficiencies in the children and mothers, she added.
Dr Salma advised the people, doctors’ community and representatives of the different NGOs who interact with the common and illiterate people to make them aware of the benefits of iodine usage through awareness which could reduce many problems in our social and medical field, she added.