GAMBIA TO MEET UNIVERSAL SALT IDD’S 80% HOUSEHOLD CONSUME BEFORE YEAR 2015

children holding un-iodine salt at the salt farm

The National Nutrition Agency NANA is hope to meet the Universal Salt Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) of 80% household consuming iodine salt before year 2015 from its current low position of 22% in sub-Saharan Africa. This was disclosed by the Acting Executive Director of the agency Mr. Malang Fofana during a press conference organized the NANA to inform and enlightening the public through the Media the effects and courses of IDD at a ceremony held at NANA conference hull on Monday.

Speaking at the press conference, the Acting Executive Director of NANA Malang Fofana said the press conference is meant to inform the people through the media which can serve as an agent of informing and enlightening the general public the courses and effects of IDD. "For the agency we have put in place strategic plans that can over come in the country. Every human being needs Iodine in his or her body on a daily basis, but it is unfortunately that not every one can have to correct Iodine salt in across the country due to illegal smuggling of salt in to the country by others".

NANA members on IDD including acting executive director Malang Fofana

The agency according to Mr. Fofana “we are working strongly to inform, communicate and to sanitize the people of the IDD, we therefore want the media to contribute it quarter in helping the agency of disseminating and educating people in your radio programmes and in the print newspapers to educate the local masses. In the 1999 survey, The Gambia cap only 7% of the house whole iodine salt, this has move only to 22% currently due to lack control used of a un-iodine salt consumed by Gambians. This I have no doubt that with the active and full involvement of the media and every stakeholder in the country, The Gambia will achieve the 80% of the universal salt iodine targeted house hold consuming iodine salt”.

Abdul Aziz Ceesay the senior IECofficer NANA

“IDD is one of the micronutrient deficiencies of public health importance in The Gambia with the principal cause being the low content of the mineral in the diet.  Over recent years, there has been so much interest and concern towards increasing the household consumption of iodized salt. This has culminated in several efforts that were injected into the elimination of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) particularly through Universal Salt Iodization (USI) Programme, which eventually picked its shape and gathered strength during the mid-1990s (UN, 2008). Countries like The Gambia are still experiencing an unsteady situation, whereby a decrease in the household consumption of adequately iodized salt keep fluctuating, from 8 percent in 1995 to 7 percent in 2005 (MICS, 2005-2006) and 22 percent MICS (2010), the most recent data. However, there are regional variations in the prevalence of IDD and the consumption of iodised salt as shown on the table below”. Director Fofana explains.

The Government of The Gambia through the National Nutrition Agency under the Office of the Vice President (OVP) has developed a National Nutrition Policy (2010-2020) with an accompanying Strategic Plan (2011-2015) to provide policy and strategic approaches for stakeholders and the Government geared towards improving the nutritional status of people including minimizing or eliminating Iodine Deficiencies Disorders. It is obvious that some of the nutritional problems can be awfully detrimental and irreversible taking an example of Iodine Deficiency Disorders and related diseases which poses great risk to children and women. As part of its efforts to minimize or eliminate IDD, government has developed a regulation on Food Fortification and Salt Iodisation in 2006 and trained law enforcement officers on the enforcement of the legislation. The government has also embarked on the sensitization of the population on the legislation and IDD control and prevention through mass media campaigns and the production of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials. The National Public Health Laboratory (NHPL) has been supported and empowered to carry out periodic quality test of the salt iodized using simple titration methods.

After several years of implementing the salt iodization programme, The Gambia is still at 22% of consumption of iodized salt by households which is one of the lowest in the sub-region as highlighted in annex 1 of this report. Studies have shown that approximately 80,000 tones of salt are consumed in The Gambia annually, of which only 10% is produced locally and about 80% imported from Senegal. Ongoing monitoring has also indicated that some of the salts from Senegal labeled as iodised are not iodised or partly iodised. Most of the 50kg bags from Senegal are not iodized. This has prompted the Taskforce on IDD to organize a bilateral visit to Senegal to discuss the issues and look for solutions.

Abdoul Aziz Ceesay the IEC officer for NANA said during a presentation said “the problems are many, and without the involvement of every stakeholder, the agency will not be able to remedy the situation, in the quickest possible time, but once every one is ready to involve, NANA will overcome the situation in the space of three months. Ceesay also mentioned that UNICEF has reduced the NANA funding for IDD from $85,000 to $50,000 due to the last year’s global financial crisis, which out of the said amount, over $25,000 went for the media sanitization programmes”.

He went further to disclosed that The Gambia now have their own logo to make sure that any individual or company importing salt to the country must be inside a 25kg bag that has the national IDD logo, and not in 50kg bags like the once illegal entering in The Gambia. This will help the agency to control the un-iodine salts coming to our markets for consumption. “The major problem affecting the country is the ability to control the un-iodine salt coming from outside for our consumptions, because 90% of salts used by Gambians are coming from the sister republic of Senegal"

Problems of IDD in the country according Mr. Ceesay during his presentation range from, The Gambia falls within the regions where IDDs are serious medical and social problems.  In The Gambia, the population with goitre is estimated at 16%, the presence of visible goitre has traumatic effects on the affected children, causing absenteeism, inferiority complex and sometimes severe discomfort. Changes in nutritional status led to increase in aliment-dependent diseases, particular IDDs in children and women of reproductive age. The 2010 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey reports that 22% of household nationally are consuming iodized salt.” Current micronutrient deficiencies could be a reason for not attaining the MDGs 1,4, and5 and The main deficiency diseases are related to a lack of iodine, iron and vitamin A

Meanwhile, According to results from MICS and DHS Surveys in the Sahel, the percentage of households using adequately iodized salt remains relatively low (Less than 40 percent in Mali, < 15 percent in Niger) and efforts are needed to expand its utilization. More then 1.5 billion of world population has a risk of lacking iodine and WHO estimates that more then 655 million people have IDDs, 43 million have brain disorders and mental retardation caused by iodine deficiency.

ICE Officer Ceesay also highlighted some of the consequences of IDD as follows: Micronutrient deficiency diseases limit individual potential and pose a major impediment to increases in productivity and national development. Pregnant women living in iodine deficient regions are more likely to give birth to children suffering from mental health impairment, ranging from mild mental retardation to cretinism, characterized by severe brain damage and dwarfism, and “According to various studies 3% of all babies born to iodine deficient mothers will be cretins, 10% will be severely mentally retarded and 87% would present some degree of intellectual deficit.”

The National Nutrition Agency as mandated by Food Act 2005 to coordinate all nutrition and nutrition related activities through support from UNICEF Country Office in The Gambia formed an 8 man delegation for a bilateral visit to Senegal from the 4^th to 9^th November, 2012.

The preparation of the mission started few days prior to the departure of the team from The Gambia. A work plan and IDD presentation for the counterparts and stakeholders in Senegal and the salt cooperatives in the Kaolack Region were developed by the team. The delegation was in constant communication with The Gambian High Commission in Dakar through Mr. Abdou Jeng, a Custom Attaché.

Mr. Ceesay also disclosed the information during the NANA’s recently bilateral visit IDD taskforce to Senegal to lean more ideas from the Senegalese authorities in concern for IDD. According to the reports, The Governor informed the delegation that he had a personal interest in salt iodisation and had worked with one of the companies that was operating in the area of salt iodisation in the Fatick Region but decided to scale up in the Kaolack Region. He posited that he personally visited the salt mining areas with the company from Fatick but to his dismay he realized that most of them needed support in the form of equipment for improved salt production and iodisation considering the magnitude of the salt produced. He reiterated that his office and the government of Senegal is concerned about salt production and iodisation in the region as salt mining is even dominating farming activities. This he said is one of the main reasons that standards are required for the production and iodisation of salt of high quality to yield the maximum benefits. He thanked the delegation and further reiterated that our visit to the communities will add more weight to what the Senegalese authorities are advocating for in these communities.

Mr. Ousman Saidu Jallow, the Director of Trade welcomed and thanked the delegation for taking the initiatives and echoed that the problem of The Gambia is also a problem of Senegal as the two countries are one and the same. He stressed that whatever affects The Gambia also affects Senegal and vice visa. He expressed his happiness for the visit to his Ministry and stated that the composition of the delegation signified the importance and value attached to the mission. He finally emphasized the bond between Senegal and The Gambia and assured the delegation that, his ministry will do everything possible at their disposal to support the salt iodization course.

This was followed by a presentation on the intervention of the ministry in the area of salt iodization by Mr. Ousman Mbye, the Deputy Director. Mr. Mbye highlighted that salt iodization started in Senegal in 1994 after realizing the many benefits that it has including the growth and development of children. He further stated that, approximately Senegal produces 450,000 to 500,000 tons of salt annually and is a major supplier salt to the neighboring countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso and the Gambia. He said his Ministry is involved in the quality control measures as part of the implementation of the regulation. He said that in Senegal, a degree on salt iodization was passed in 1995 and reviewed in 2000. Anyone found selling non-iodized salt is fined on the spot with an amount of CFA 500,000.00. The regulation also outlined the specification of salt at all levels including Production, Distribution, Importation and Exportation.

The regulation specified that anyone exporting salt is required to acquire a Certificate of Quality and Certificate of Origin. The Ministry of Trade and Commerce signed an Memorandum of Understanding MOU with CLM to enhance quality control and regulation enforcement. The Ministry carries out periodic inspections and take samples of salt from all producing sites for quality check and conformity.

The final meeting of the delegation was at the Micronutrient Initiatives (MI) with Mr. Ebrima Ndow and Mr. Abdoulie Njie. After the usual introduction of the delegation, the purpose of the mission was highlighted by the head of the delegation followed by interventions of other members of the team. The members of the delegation appealed to MI for support and possible linkages to any potential partners. The MI team informed the delegation about how MI operates and has offices in Senegal, Ethiopia and Kenya and are engaged in the prevention of Iron , Vitamin A and Iodine Deficiencies, but is currently experimenting an intervention programme on the prevention of  malnutrition in Burkina Faso that will be scaled up to other countries if successful. The Director also expressed that, MI works in partnership with CLM, WFP, GAIN and Ministry of Health. MI currently signed an MOU with the Ministry of Health for the implementation of a Maternal Iron Supplementation Programme. In the area of salt iodization, MI has provided 82 salt mixing machines to communities Fatick and Kaolack Regions including Palmaring, Nojorr, Basong and Jonwarr.