ADVOCACY MEASURES TO ATTAIN UNIVERSAL SALT IODIZATION AMONGST SMALL SCALE SALT PRODUCERS IN THREE DISTRICTS OF GUJARATA COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVE FOR NUTRITION BREAKTHROUGH

摘要

Introduction: Salt is a low value, but an essential food commodity in our day to day life, without which no human can survive. It is also proven to be the best vehicle for micronutrient fortification due to its universal usage and its nature to adapt addition of micronutrients with more or less technical modifications. Some of the major micronutrients like iron, iodine and Vit.A are deficient in most of the population residing in the developing countries. Their deficiencies lead to anaemia, Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) and many other consequences. Thus salt remains a major risk, limiting the growth, development and active learning capacity of India's children. Every second newborn in India is at risk of reduced learning capacity due to Iodine deficiency. Only 51% of households are using iodized salt (NFHS-III). Gujarat being India's largest salt producer (71%) has also its share of IDD problems.