Role of Effective Enforcement of Salt Iodization Legislation in Improving the Supply and Distribution of Adequately Iodized Salt.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The production and distribution of non iodized salt is banned by the legislation in Senegal and the Ministry of Trade (MoT) supported by the police forces and the Department of Hygiene of the Ministry of Health is mandated to enforce this legislation. However, household use of iodized salt remains <70%. We undertook this survey to compare apparent governmental commitment to enforcing salt iodization legislation and production of iodized salt. Methods: Technical and logistical support were provided to regional offices of MoT covering salt producing regions and Five year data trends were collected from regional MoT offices in two salt producing regions. Analyses included number and frequency of enforcement activities in productions sites, fines paid by defaulters and total production of adequately iodized salt in comparison to changes in leadership at these offices. Results: Between 2008 and 2012, the level of enforcement/ field controls decreased sharply in region 1 (from 138 to 35) and increased in region2 (from 30 to 140). Fines paid by defaulters between 2008 and 2012 were 600,000FCFA in region1 against 4,075,000FCFA in region2. In region 1, the production and distribution of adequately iodized salt declined from 20,000 to 12,000 MT per year in 2008 and2012, while in region2it steady increased from 6,000 to 25,000 MT per year in2008 and 2012, respectively. Conclusions: Whatever the resources used in training small salt producers, and communicating for their behavior change, Universal Salt Iodization will be difficult to achieve without a commitment of the authorities responsible for enforcing regulations.