Speakers call for use of iodized salt to prevent diseases

PESHAWAR: Participants of a workshop and health experts on Friday urged the media to increase awareness amongst people to use iodized salt to prevent various diseases.

Addressing a media consultation workshop on Iodine Deficiency Disorder & Universal Salt Iodization, they said iodine deficiency was causing several diseases, especially among women and children.

In his speech to the participants of the workshop, Additional Director General (ADG) Health Services Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dr Ahmad Ali said that the department was ready to jointly work with all stakeholders and prepare them to play their due role in the promotion of the usage of iodized salt.

In this regard, he added, they were also seeking the role of religious scholars to spread their message and build the capacity of the campaign at the grassroots in the province.He said that Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) was a public health problem in Pakistan, with almost half of the population at risk of iodine deficiency. He said that though the national IDD Programme was launched in 1994, limited progress has been made so far.

He said the National Nutrition Survey (NNS)-2011) completed during September 2011 after a period of 10 years, was the largest survey undertaken in Pakistan to assess nutritional status of women and children of the country.