Assessment of Availability of Adequately Iodized Salt and Its Associated Factors at Household Level in Walmara Woreda, Finfine Special Zone, Ethiopia, 2020

Abstract

Background: Iodine Deficiency Disorders refer to a spectrum of health consequences resulting from inadequate intake of iodine. Around 2 billion people in 130 countries worldwide have insufficient intakes of iodine and Ethiopia also one of the countries more than half the population at risk of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD). Recently monitoring of the iodine in Dessie and Kombolcha, Ethiopia indicated that 68.8% of households used adequately iodized salt which is below the international goal of 90% coverage. Universal salt iodization has been implemented to eliminate Iodine Deficiency Disorders. However, the adequacy of iodine in salts needs close monitoring to meet its intended goal. This study assessed availability of adequately iodized salt and its associated factors at household level in Walmara Woreda Finfine Special zone, Oromia, Ethiopia, 2020. A Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Walmara Woreda from February 01 to 30 in 2020. Multistage sampling technique Data collections were used to study participant. All independent variables with p-value<0.25 in the bivariate analysis were selected for multivariate logistic regression analysis. During multivariate logistic regression analysis the P-value less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant and degree of association between dependent and independent variables were reported using adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) and 95% CI. This study showed that the availability of adequately iodized salt at household level with parts-per-million (PPM) of>15 was 355 (65.9%). Households who live in urban areas were 8.74 times more likely to have adequately iodized salt than those rural areas (AOR=8.74, 95% CI: 2.92, 26.09). Storage of salt at dry place was 5.38 times more likely to have adequately iodized salt than that stored at moister place (AOR=5.38, 95% CI: 1.46, 19.88). Households who were using packed salt were 11.441 times more likely to have adequately iodized salt compared to those who were using non-packed salt (AOR=11.44 (95% CI: 3.97, 33.02)). The availability of adequately iodized salt at household level in Wolmara Woreda was low as compared to the Iodine Deficiency Disorders elimination strategy. Hence, Zonal and Woreda health office should give attention to monitoring and evaluation of iodine salt at production, transportation and consumption levels.