This was stated by Child Specialist and Dean of Faculty of Pediatrics of the Liquat University of the Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), Jamshoro, Dr.Salma Salma Shaikh while talking to APP on Monday.

Dr Salma Shaikh said that care was better than cure as such more should be invested for taking preventive measures to reduce the financial burden of the government being incurred on curatives programs and keep the nation healthy through their life style.

She said that at present 40 per cent women and 60 per cent children were affected only in Sindh province due to iodine deficiency because of the lack of awareness, wrong perceptions about iodine salt, not implementation on laws, and inadequate performances of concerned management on government and industrial side were the main reasons behind poor usage of iodine salt.

The importance of iodine in our nutrition, the government had made legislation in 1994 for its compulsory usage but unfortunately implementation on this law had not been made accordingly and the medical community could play vital role in advocacy for usage of iodine salt at gross root level, she said.

She said that it is surprised to say that more than 60 percent population of the province was not using iodine salt because of unawareness and lack of implementation on the law.

She further informed the Iodine deficiency causes mental retardation, poor physical growth, deaf and dampness, short stature and goiter.

She said that all the salt producing factories, producing salt without iodine must be encouraged and made bound for producing salt with iodine. Besides the awareness about breast-feeding must be accelerated with a view to avoid deficiencies in the children and mothers, she added.

Dr. Salma Shaikh advised the people, Doctors Community and representatives of the different NGOs who advised the common and illiterate people could be made aware about the benefits of the iodine usage and through awareness we could avoid many problems in our social and medical field.