Pakistan's Journey Towards Universal Coverage of Iodised Salt: A Non-Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Pakistan has grappled with the challenge of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) however the country has made definite strides towards addressing it. IDD is easily prevented through consumption of adequately iodized salt. This article documents Pakistan's journey on the road to achieving universal salt iodization. Methods: Non-systematic review of Nutrition International's (NI) internal documents, case studies and other articles was used to assimilate findings. Additionally, Situation Analysis of the Salt Sector was also undertaken. Results: There are 1,350 salt processors producing 1.12 million tonnes of salt, of which 54% is for edible purposes and 46% for industrial purposes. Small, medium and large salt processors are categorized based on the production capacities. NNS, 2018 reported a higher household coverage of iodized salt (79.6%), while urinary iodine excretion showed that 7.3% of 6-12 year children were severely deficient in iodine. Conclusion: As Pakistan moves ahead in its journey towards achieving USI, it is important to understand that the focus on the program will gradually shift to sustaining USI. Hence, keeping in mind all the constraints, we need to prepare ourselves for the next stage of achieving and sustaining USI.

Concerns of iodized salt and its effects for women seeking antenatal care in Pakistan

“…6 In 1993, Universal Salt Iodization (USI) has been recommended as the main strategy to achieve elimination of IDD. It was introduced in Pakistan in 1994 7 as a widely used cost effective strategy According to NNS, the reported consumption of iodized salt at household level in Pakistan is 79.6% 8 which is less than the WHO benchmark of > 90% household coverage of iodized salt to achieve the goal of USI. 9 Pakistan is moving forward towards attaining USI, the program focus has now been shifted for sustaining USI.…”

“…9 Pakistan is moving forward towards attaining USI, the program focus has now been shifted for sustaining USI. 8 Therefore, The study was carried out to analyze the concerns and effects regarding iodized salt and IDD in women seeking antenatal care in Pakistan.…”

Switching the World’s Salt Supply—Learning from Iodization to Achieve Potassium Enrichment

“…Implementation was more straightforward in countries with a few large-scale salt producers compared with countries with multiple small-scale salt producers, the latter requiring novel approaches. In Cambodia, for example, > 150 small-scale salt producers joined together to establish a single system to coordinate the iodization of salt [ 38 ], and Pakistan is working toward consolidation of salt production by encouraging large-scale salt producers to buy salt from the many smaller-scale producers, to enable concentration of iodization processes to support quality control [ 39 ].…”