1Asst. Professor, Dept of Community Medicine, Subharti Medical College, Meerut, India
22nd Year P.G., Dept of Community Medicine, Subharti Medical College, Meerut, India
3Third year MBBS students, Dept of Community Medicine, Subharti Medical College, Meerut, India
*Corresponding Author: Dr. Antara Sinha, Deptt of Community Medicine, Subharti Medical College, Meerut-250005, e-mail: dr.antarasinhasinha@gmail.com Contact: 7500881417
Online published on 27 March, 2020.
The present study was carried out to estimate the consumption of adequate iodized salt by PSI salt testing kit, knowledge related to the health benefits of iodine and practices with respect to storage and use of iodized salt at the household level in the field practice area of Subharti Medical College, Meerut.
To assess the level of knowledge and salt keeping practices among the households and to estimate the iodine content of salt and its determinants in those households.
This Cross Sectional study was conducted in 250 households in urban slums in Multan Nagar, Meerut by taking verbal informed consent from the family followed by interview with a self-designed schedule.
The households were selected by simple random sampling and rapid PSI (Plasti Surge Industries) spot testing kit was used in the survey to assess iodine content in the salt used in those households.
The collected data was entered in Microsoft excel and analyzed using SPSS software version 19.0.
More than half of the households (65.2%) had no knowledge regarding iodized salt and nearly 3/4th of the households (73.6%) had no knowledge about benefits of iodized salt. Practice regarding keeping the salt was found to be good as 98.8% of households stored salt in containers with lid and 96.8% buy packet salt.
There is a pertinent need for health education regarding proper use and keeping practices of iodized salt. For the prevention of iodine deficiency disorders, education campaigns should reach grass root level.
Iodized Salt, PSI Salt Testing Kit, Households
