SHEIKHUPURA
The District Health Department organised a daylong refresher training session for food and sanitary inspectors regarding salt iodisation here on Tuesday.
Executive District Officer (Health) Dr Rana Imran Ali Khan chaired the training session organised by the Health Department in collaboration with the Micronutrient Initiative Pakistan (MI).
On the occasion, the EDO Health acknowledged the hard work of salt processors and sanitary inspectors in sustaining Universal Salt Iodization programme.
He said that today we have gathered to refresh our knowledge and skills on techniques to produce adequately iodized salt.
On the occasion, Dr Sohail Khizar welcomed the participants and said that Universal Salt Iodization Program was the only distinction among the large array of preventive health programmes that had visibly made tremendous progress during the last 10 years.
He shared the comparisons of National Nutrition Survey 2001 vs NNS 2011 and informed that according to NNS 2011, 79% people in Punjab province were consuming iodized salt which was only 17% in 2001. USI Field Officer Muhammad Yasin informed the participants that Pakistan was amongst those countries where IDD was still a public health problem and research proves that Iodine deficiency was the major cause of mental impairment, brain damage and 13 to 15 per cent low IQ in growing children. Numerous complications arise in adults and pregnant women due to the deficiency of Iodine and its long standing deficiency leads to goitre.