Villagers near Islamabad suffer from massive iodine deficiency

[Icarus]

a solution from SARHAD PAAR

Already in use since the 80s......

 

[Solomon2]

If anything is blocking its extensive use than its price as compared to plain salt (though its not high but still in villages saving few rupees also count)

I think iodized and non-iodized salt is the same price in supermarkets here in the U.S., so why is it more expensive in Pakistan?

 

[Old School]

I think iodized and non-iodized salt is the same price in supermarkets here in the U.S., so why is it more expensive in Pakistan?

Contaminated foods cost more than good food in Pakistan. The reason is that a lot of people get easily ill eating good food because the stomach can no longer tolerate good food after having consumed contaminated food for decades. That is why many people are sceptic to buy healthy food. The manufacturers have no option but to raise the price to cover production costs. This may sound sarcastic but we the locals know this fact very well.

 

[Solomon2]

Contaminated foods cost more than good food in Pakistan. The reason is that a lot of people get easily ill eating good food because the stomach can no longer tolerate good food after having consumed contaminated food for decades.

So this is a public health issue, not a consumer issue and should be addressed in that context. Don't you have a surgeon-general or something?

 

[Old School]

So this is a public health issue, not a consumer issue and should be addressed in that context. Don't you have a surgeon-general or something?

We have Civil Surgeons and Health minister to occupy their government vehicles and air conditioned rooms . They are too busy to concentrate on public health. Government asked US gov to deliver CFP money or lethal weapons to kill people. They never ask for something that can save people's lives like water purification plant or a subsidized iodine plant . It is a tragedy.

 

[sparklingway]

So this is a public health issue, not a consumer issue and should be addressed in that context. Don't you have a surgeon-general or something?

No, no such thing as a top medical officer. There's the DG Heath and Consultant Health in the Ministry of Health. Then there are the Surgeon General Inter Services, Executive Director PMRC (Pakistan Medical Research Council), President College of Physicians & Surgeons, DG National Institute of Health (NIH). All of these people sit on numerous boards which supervise the healthcare system but the most prominent one is the DG Health but still the system lacks a top medical officer.

It really doesn't matter to the people for if you see that more than one third the country's population never go to a qualified physician in their lives. Quacks are the most popular "medical professionals", people seek "spiritual medicine" and homeopathy all the time as well. It's a whole world of do-no-goody "alternate medicine". In fact it's popular in Pakistan to call scientific medicine as "allopathy", the word coined by homeopathy for the real scientific medicine. Then there's our version of the Greek Medicine called "hikmat" but that at least has some scientific basis and even though less effective in complex medical phenomenon it works at least as it has some scientific grounds unlike the spiritual mantras and the fakeness of homeopathy.

In the end it should be there but it fricking doesn't matter unless even the literate and educated one realize the importance of real scientific medicine instead of "alternate medicine" and old family beliefs that usually have no basis.

 

[sparklingway]

They never ask for something that can save people's lives like water purification plant or a subsidized iodine plant . It is a tragedy.

Do you live near a place that has the community water filtration plant? It was started in 2004 and there are more than 30,000 functional plants working under that project and it is going to continue till 2016. Try to voice appreciation for what is being done and perhaps they'll install more waste management plants for improving the place when you ask for them instead of crying "roads" and "flyovers" all the time. They'll do what is "visible" as people regard improving sewerage systems, water supply systems, waste management systems and everything else as rubbish and only roads as development. They'll do what sells and roads sell, not water filtration plants.

Iodized salt isn't selling because Mullah party hijacked it and as I said earlier all the iodized salt, family planning and population control programs were sent to hibernate in the last government. That is not something coming out of political bias but reality. Only now have the population control and family planning advertisements and campaigns started. Iodized salt is yet to pick up again, say thanks to the maulvi.

I'd say that the MoH has been a far effective ministry compared to others throughout our history keeping in mind it's low budgetary allocations.

 

[sparklingway]

I think iodized and non-iodized salt is the same price in supermarkets here in the U.S., so why is it more expensive in Pakistan?

Iodized salt is subsidized and cheaper than other packaged salt but as most people still buy products from the local departmental store which sells these products in unbranded open pricing, hence it is cheaper for people to buy salt from the store than state subsidized branded salt.

Bwahahahahahaha the idiotic notion had died down long ago. Iodised salt is now commonly use by people here. If anything is blocking its extensive use than its price as compared to plain salt (though its not high but still in villages saving few rupees also count)

Please. Everybody who has listened to a local maulvi can attest to the fact that they say all the time that iodized salt will make you sterile and it's a conspiracy. If you never heard of it, then it might be because they didn't reach you with this message but nearly every man at least has heard of this BS. I have met people in villages suffering from massive goiter problems and they still hold the notion about iodized salt making you sterile.

Unless and until an effective campaign, televised commercials and door to door does not start, the problem will persist.

 

[anurag_singh]

Oh tell me about it - I am from KP and there are plenty of people here who spread the propaganda that Iodine will make you infertile and your sperm count will be messed up and you won't have any kid.The same was said about Polio but after people saw their kids screwed up people stopped believing in polio conspiracies so let's hope they stop believe into iodine stories too.

Bro similar propaganda about infertility is spread in poor muslim community in India regarding polio drop. Due to which polio couldn't completely eradicated.

 

[Old School]

Iodized salt isn't selling because Mullah party hijacked it and as I said earlier all the iodized salt, family planning and population control programs were sent to hibernate in the last government. That is not something coming out of political bias but reality. Only now have the population control and family planning advertisements and campaigns started. Iodized salt is yet to pick up again, say thanks to the maulvi.

I'd say that the MoH has been a far effective ministry compared to others throughout our history keeping in mind it's low budgetary allocations.

I hope that iodized salt becomes a mandatory practice instead of supplying normal salt . In my ancestral village , one in every five people have thyroidal issue due to lack of iodine in the natural water.

Maulvis have no real power , they are used by certain quarter on purpose. They can run to Saudi any time they want if there is danger at home but the maulvis will take the heat. Zia ul Haq did a big damage to Pakistan before he died.

 

[sparklingway]

Zia ul Haq did a big damage to Pakistan before he died.

We're continuing to pay for it in more than one way.

 

[Solomon2]

Well, maybe you don't need a surgeon general - or the government at all - to fix this problem. You might be able to do it yourself on the local level. Pick a nice day and take a walk with your friends the butcher and doctor. Stop at every tenth door and explain the importance of iodized salt. People may look to the mullah to save their souls, but they look to the butcher and doctor for their life and health.

 

[Old School]

We're continuing to pay for it in more than one way.

The heaviest price is yet to be paid which I better do not mention. I am out of Pakistan for three decades which is also a price I have been paying. However, I hope that the current drift toward civic rule will sustain. We do not have any other alternative for Pakistan .

 

[Solomon2]

One more thing. Most of the salt in the U.S. comes from the ocean, so leaving a little iodine in the mix is easy. However, it seems most of Pakistan's supply is rock salt. No iodine there.

Perhaps there isn't enough iodine added to the regular salt, or the iodized stuff is mis-labeled. Up until the 1940s or so Americans used to buy iodine separately and add it to food themselves (peanut-butter-and-iodine-sandwich, anyone?) So maybe it would be a good idea for Pakistanis to do the same?

 

[Old School]

This was introduced by the Dutch Americans . I spent my childhood in Harlem. I am familiar with it.