Who is using Iodised Salt?
Together with UNICEF, the MOH Mother and Child Health and the Family Planning General Directorate, The Middle East Technical University, Ankara (METU) conducted the ‘National Household Iodised Salt Consumption Survey’. The objective of the survey was to measure usage throughout various strata of society, using a nationally representative sample group. Because properly iodised salt is not always labelled as such and regular salt has on occasion been wrongly labelled as being iodised, checks using test kits were used to verify samples used by surveyed households. Initial results yielded encouraging signs that the Salt Iodisation Programme has been effective. Of those households which took part in the METU Survey, 64% use iodised salt. In urban areas, usage is 70% whereas it is roughly half of that in rural areas. Overall, usage varied between as much as 34 years and a very few months. On a regional basis, the timescale of the scheme appears to be a factor: in Marmara, where usage is high
