Dev Kumar Sunuwar

DEV KUMAR SUNUWAR
KATHMANDU, FEB 22 –

Nepal will be the first country to attain the United Nation (UN)’s universal target on elimination of Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD) among South Asian Countries, officials said on Monday. Nepal aims to eliminate the deficiency within this year.

To materialise this plan, the Child Health Division under the Ministry of Health along with the United Nations Children’s Fund and Salt Trading Corporation Limited launched an Iodized Salt Social Marketing Campaign (ISSMC) on Monday.

Furthermore, the division has also launched a massive door-to-door campaign to use only iodised salt with the two-child logo from Feb. 1, according to Dr. Shyam Raj Upreti, Director at the Child Health Division. “The campaign aims at raising awareness to use iodized salt and prevent a number of diseases caused by the use of non-iodized salt,” he said.

IDD is one of the most severe public health problems and is widespread in the country, especially in the inner Tarai districts and in the northern hilly districts. Nepal, however, is completely dependent on India for the import of salt.

Dr. Upreti also said that, the government has been adopting a universal salt idolization policy under which the government has been importing idolized salt since 1998. Still, 23 percent of Nepalis consume non-iodized salt.

The 43rd World Health Assembly in 1990 adopted a resolution to eliminate iodine deficiency by 2000, but only half of the countries in the world could meet the deadline. Subsequently, when world health experts gathered at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters for evaluation of the problem in 2000, they made another resolution that only Universal Salt Iodization could eliminate the problem and therefore set a new global target of 2010.

According to WHO, the lack of iodine leads to many diseases besides effects on growth and development–goitre (swelling in the thyroid gland), cretinism (a condition of severely-stunted physical and mental growth), brain damages in children, and loss of health and productivity among adults-that are difficult to cure once contracted.

“We are raising awareness to consume iodized salt to prevent diseases caused by the lack of iodine,” said Urmila Shrestha, General Manager of STCL. “However, it is a challenge to stop the import of non-iodized salt from the porous borders shared with India and China.”

According to STCL, the sole corporation that imports salt and distributes across the country, nearly 150,000 tonnes of salt is consumed in the country annually.