“More than half the population of Sindh suffers from Iodine deficiency, causing major mental and physical disorders,” said experts at the ‘Provincial Launching Ceremony of Prevention and Elimination of Iodine Deficiency and Disorder/ Universal Salt Ionisation Programme’ on Saturday.
The Sindh Minister for Health, Syed Sardar Ahmad said that he was surprised and shocked after discovering the magnitude of the problem which can simply be controlled by the use of iodised salt.
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“Majority of the rural and urban population do not use iodised salt because it is expensive, not easily available and they fear it will result in infertility or birth control,” Professor Zulfikar Bhutta of the Aga Khan University for Health Sciences said in his presentation. Another major concern, he said, is the issue of ‘fake iodised salt’. After an in-depth study in Matiari, Khairpur and Bilal Colony (Karachi), he found that around 23 per cent children and 37 per cent women were diagnosed with iodine deficiency.
Ismailimail 