| Summary: | Globally, 1.9 billion individuals have inadequate iodine nutrition, of whom 285 million are school-aged children. Universal salt iodization is the favored preventive strategy for iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), the single largest cause of preventable mental retardation. Two thousand and twenty estimates show nearly 1 billion people do not consume iodized salt. When at least 90% of households consume adequately iodized salt (≥15 ppm), a country is said to have attained USI. Only 23 countries had household coverage of 90% or higher. India has a household coverage of 76.3%. One 67 million people are at risk of IDD, 54 million suffer from goiter, and 2 million from cretinism. Yearly, 9 million pregnant women and 8 million newborns are at risk. Nagaland, with the second highest coverage of iodized salt in India, the study aims to assess the state-specific approach, track various mitigating measures that effectively sustained the gains of the program.
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