Assessing Country Progress in Universal Salt Iodization Programs
Iodized Salt Program Assessment Tool (ISPAT)

edited by Robin Houston, Mahshid Lotfi, Rose Nathan, and Chandrakant Pandav

MI 1999, ISBN 1-894217-06-3
64 pp., paper, 8½" x 11" 

Résumé français à venir 

Over the past decade, there has been a remarkable expansion of salt iodization programs throughout the world. Progress in the reduction of iodine deficiency disorders has been one of the most impressive public health successes of the decade. UNICEF reports that a significant proportion of the population in more than 87 countries, representing 68% of the world’s population, already has access to iodized salt. This has resulted in the prevention of 12 million cases of mental retardation annually. By 1998, 179 countries had committed themselves salt iodization. The goal of universal salt iodization was within sight.

The challenge, however, does not end with universal salt iodization. Sustaining the achievement calls for continued strong political commitment and industry motivation. Producer compliance, quality assurance, logistic programs and bottlenecks all need to be addressed. The Iodized Salt Program Assessment Tool (ISPAT) offers a simple, low-cost mechanism for tracking and sustaining progress toward the goal of national salt iodization. It will provide governments and program managers with a step-by-step method of evaluating each element in an iodine deficiency diseases program.

The manual is divided into three sections. The Product shows how to ensure that all salt is iodized according to government standards. The Process describes ways of keeping up political will and financial commitments. The Progress covers ways of measuring iodized salt coverage and the iodine status of the population. In addition, the manual’s seven appendices offer detailed checklists of the different types of information to collect, guidance on how to conduct a rapid independent survey, sample questionnaires, and the World Health Organization’s criteria for assessing progress.
 

The Editors

Robin Houston, MD, MPH, currently works with JSI/Nepal as an advisor for monitoring the National Vitamin A program and, under contract with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, on monitoring of a salt fortification program for iodine.

Mahshid Lotfi holds a master’s degree in nutritional sciences and a doctorate in physiological nutrition from the University of London, UK. Dr Lotfi has worked as a teacher and researcher in the UK, as an associate professor in Iran, and as a consultant and special adviser to the United Nations Sub-Committee on Nutrition, first with the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, Italy, and later with the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Since 1991, Dr Lotfi has worked for IDRC and the Micronutrient Initiative as Senior Program Specialist, where she has monitored and helped to develop international health, nutrition, and development programs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Rose Nathan, JD, MPH, is with the Program Against Micronutrient Malnutrition (PAMM), Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, USA.

Chandrakant S. Pandav, MBBS, MD, MSc, is a member of Faculty at the Centre for Community Medicine (CCM) and Clinical Epidemiology Unit (CEU) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. Dr. Pandav was a member of a team at AIIMS that showed the serious impact of iodine deficiency on child development, and has published extensively on the subject.
 

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Executive Summary

Introduction

Section 1 The Product: Assessing Progress in Iodized Salt Production

Section II The Process: Assessing Progress in Program Implementation

Section III The Progress: Measuring Progress in Coverage and Impact

References

Appendices