A Critical Analysis of the National Goitre Control Programme

Abstract

The two most prominent goitre ende­mic areas in the world are the mountainous belts of the Andes in South America and the Himalayas in South East Asia of which the latter is undoubtedly the largest and worst affected area in the world.

In India loday, we have all the possible weapons of hope against this large scale nutritional problem but even then it conti­nues to not only occur but also expose and affect a major chunk of our population.

Some of our hopes are related to the follo­wing facts :

The problem is preventable. We laun­ched the National Programme in 1962, meaning thereby that it has already cele­brated its Silver Jubilee. A potent and affective weapon iodised salt exists. Salt is a commodity which is consumed universally without wide variations. The cost of pre­vention through the use of iodised salt is only Rs. 0^-50 or 005 Dollars/Year (WHO- 1985). Government has now given every possible facility for the manufacture of iodi­sed salt.