PESHAWAR: Iodized salt use: processors’ help sought
By Our Correspondent
PESHAWAR, Aug 16: Doctors are convinced that the use of iodized salt can be popularized by the help of salt packagers and processors, saying that iodized salt helps save the people from diseases cause by the element’s deficiency.
“Without their (salt packagers) involvement, it will be an uphill task to increase the use of iodised salt. It costs only 75 paisa to mix iodine in every kilogramme of salt but its benefits outweigh the costs,” said Dr Mohammad Rafique, at the concluding session of a two-day-long review meeting on iodine deficiency disorder here on Saturday.
The meeting was attended by the executive district officers, representatives of the salt packaging companies and the Unicef.
Dr Rafique, who shot to prominence because of his efforts to achieve 100 per cent utilization of iodised salt in the Swat district, detailing tactics employed by him in this regard.
“Swat district is naturally iodine-deficient, because of rains and snowfall that strips the soil of its iodine content, but we popularised the use of iodised salt among 1.8 million people living in the eight tehsils of the district by involving clerics, students, health officials, police and salt processors,” said Dr Rafique.
He said that at least 95 per cent of the people did not know about problems caused by iodine deficiency till 1994 — the year the campaign got underway. The problem, he said, was overcome, mainly because of the salt processors’ cooperation as well as the local clergy.
The former, he said, had ensured an uninterrupted supply of the iodized salt in the market while the latter urged the people to use it in their Friday’s sermons.
“In the course of the campaign, people dubbed us ‘European agents,’ as they mistakenly believed that iodised salt was a means of birth control. But we never lost heart and hope,” said Dr Rafique.
Praising the media’s role in this regard, he said that the people had responded positively to newspaper stories. A sustainable public awareness, coupled with incentives to salt processors, sincerity on the part of the stake-holders and a decentralised monitoring system, were of paramount significance to achieve desired results, he opined.
“We are pleased that no case of goitre and cretin has been reported in Swat during the past six to eight years. This should motivate everyone, who want to achieve similar results in their respective districts,” he told the participants.
Unicef’s programme manager Dr Abdul Jamil said that the UN’s agency was carrying out similar projects in 12 districts of the province. The Unicef, he said would train food inspectors besides establishing laboratories to monitor the salt quality.
The assistant director of the NWFP’s Nutrition Department, Dr Ghulam Subhani, expressed concern over the provincial finance department’s refusal to sanction the post of nutrition officer, saying the post was aimed at expediting the campaign.
He suggested that the training of salt processors, investment in the campaign and creation of sustained awareness and setting up of a monitoring system could make the campaign successful. He said that IDD caused stillbirths and other pregnancy- related problems as well as goitre, impairment of brain development in children.
President of the NWFP Salt Processors Association Taj Mohammad said that they were facing problems in acquiring iodine, adding that while iodine was cheap, the labour and transportation costs added greatly to its price, prompting consumers to buy the cheaper rock salt instead of the iodised variety.
