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Dear
Editors,
I am writing this
to reiterate what your newspaper covered in two subsequent issues
[Volume 7 Number 318 and 319] on the iodine deficiency problem with salt
supplied to the market.
That an iodine
deficiency in our body causes goitre is an established fact. One of the
known methods of supplying iodine is mixing its compounds with a common
salt (sodium chloride). By any standard, ensuring the provision of an
iodized salt to citizens is a human being’s minimum basic need.
As such, iodized
salt was available in the country’s market until the Ethio-Eritrea war
broke out in 1998. After the war, the supply of iodized salt from
Eritrea was terminated.
Sadly, the
government lifted the ban imposed on supplying un-iodized salt in the
country with a purpose of supporting local salt producers, incapable of
producing iodized salt, at the risk of public health. Now we are told by
the Ministry of Health that goitre has escalated at a rate of about 40pc
and millions of poor citizens are suffering as a result of it. I wonder
why it took so long to realize its consequences.
In my view, it was
a big mistake. Yet, the government has been lenient in the face of the
problem; Ministry of Trade and Industry is taking too much time in
activating a ban on the marketing of un-iodized salt.
The problem was
seemingly obvious to UNICEF; and it has finally expressed its interest
in donating an iodine mixing machine. The Ministry of Health’s concern
in advertising the problem to the public should be acknowledged, but it
was late too.
Moreover, I believe
the figures on the consumption of iodized salt are overstated. The
official annual consumption of salt and sugar in Ethiopia is 400 million
and 300 million kilograms, respectively. Out of curiosity, I have
searched some websites and I found that the U.K. has a 10gm, which is
3.6Kg per capita consumption.
Do the figures
include the consumption of un-iodized salt that may be utilized by other
sectors of the economy? If that is the case, why is there a need to
explain the cause of goitre?
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