[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Iodine deficiency disorder prevalent in 3 provinces’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
ILOILO City – In Western Visayas, Iodine Deficiency Disorder (IDD) is prevalent in the provinces of Antique, Capiz and Guimaras, according to a survey of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI).
But many people still do not know the importance of salt iodization to address IDD, lamented Nona Tad-y, regional coordinator of the National Nutrition Council (NNC).
IDD may lead to goiter, mental retardation, stillbirth and poor performance of children in school, among others.
NNC Region 6 has thus taken steps to strengthen the implementation of Republic Act 8172, the Act for Salt Iodization Nationwide (ASIN) in this part of the country.
On Nov. 11, NNC-6 reorganized the Regional Bantay Asin Task Force (RBATF) that will serve as watchdog for the distribution and supply of adequately iodized salt in Western Visayas.
Signed by then President Fidel Ramos in 1995, the ASIN law aims to promote iodized salt among households to address the lack of micronutrients.
The law also requires all salt manufacturers to iodize the salt they produce and distribute, said Nona Tad-y, regional coordinator of NNC.
The result of the 8th National Nutrition Survey conducted by FNRI in 2008 indicated that the prevalence of IDD among six- to 12-year-old children in the country was 13.8 percent. This dropped in 2013 to 8.9 percent.
However, according to Tad-y, the figure was still high.
Concerned agencies like the Department of Health and Food and Drug Administration have been doing well in terms of looking into the implementation of law but monitoring remains a challenge, said Tad-y.
That is why there is a need to organize “bantay asin” task forces, she stressed.
“While we have sanitary inspectors doing their jobs at the local level. We need to put our acts together and form a task force that will look into the enforcement of the law,” said Tad-y to representatives of relevant government agencies, local government units and academe who participated in the orientation, briefing and workshop on the RBATF.
Tad-y noted the challenges that still confront the implementation of the law. These include the monitoring of supply and distribution of adequately-iodized salt in the region.
“There are several manufacturers producing salt but there is a need to check whether these salts are iodized properly according to the standard which is 30 to 70 parts per million,” said Tad-y.
Another challenge she cited was the lack of monitoring teams in many entry points of salt delivery.
The task force should identify where the entry points are in the region, Tad-y stressed.
Other challenges that Tad-y identified were:
* no regular supply of salt testing kits; this hinders the submission of local government reports
* rapid testing kits only detect the presence of iodine but not the quantity of iodine
* no monitoring from the regional level due to lack of manpower. (PIA-Iloilo/PN)
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
