‘Iodine deficiency declining’

SARGODHA:

“Strict action will be taken against those salt processors who show negligence in salt iodisation,” Safina Siddique, executive district officer (Finance and Planning) said on Wednesday.

Siddique was presiding over a meeting of the District Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Committee at the office of the district coordination office.

Field Officer Ehtshamul Haq Tariq briefed the meeting and quoted from the Pakistan National Nutrition Survey 2011. He said the survey revealed that severe iodine deficiency in mothers had reduced from 37 per cent in 2001 to 4 per cent in 2011. He said that the study had also revealed that iodine deficiency in school going children had reduced from 23 per cent to 2 per cent over the same time.

He informed the participants about the plan of gradually withdrawing subsidy on KIO₃ (potassium iodate). The decrease in the natural resource of KIO3 was “due to the use of fertilisers and sprays,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2012.