The Power of Purple Salt
Kiwanis and UNICEF Boost Early Childhood Development in Sri Lanka
By Sarah Lendon, UNICEF Australia Project Officer
The production manager of the Puttlam Salt Factory in Sri Lanka proudly squirted the container’s liquid on the huge mound of salt in front of us, turning the salt purple. Noticing my surprise, he smiled and told me that the purple colour is harmless and shows that the salt contains iodine. He then explained to me that this salt is preventing children from a possible 10% reduction in their IQ and other serious disorders such as stunting and retarding of cognitive development.
The purple iodine indicator is being provided to school children, mothers and shop owners to try and prevent people using salt which is falsely labelled as iodised. The Kiwanis’ continuing partnership with UNICEF will enable small salt factories to produce iodised salt, rather than falsely labelling their salt to make the cheap sale. The project will also raise awareness about Iodine Deficiency Disorders, how to prevent them and give children the chance to test and ensure that the salt they use is actually iodised.
The funds raised through the tireless efforts of the Kiwanis clubs in Australia, in partnership with UNICEF Australia, have helped the Puttlam Salt Factory to build an iodisation plant to produce iodised salt for 30 per cent of Sri Lanka's population. Prior to the assistance of the Kiwanis and UNICEF only 0.014 per cent of the salt produced contained iodine (1992) and now, for the past 4 years, the percentage of iodised salt produced has exceeded 40 per cent. The production manager said that the 40 per cent represents the salt which is used for human consumption and the 60 per cent of salt that is not iodised, is used in industry.
In the salt factory, the stacks of blue and white salt packets clearly state in English, Sinalhese and Tamil that the salt contains iodine and that people "should not wash the salt". Traditionally, Sri Lankans have used rock salt which they wash before use in cooking. Washing removes all the vital iodine and therefore it is important to raise the awareness of the women, who do the food preparation and cooking in Sri Lanka, so that they realise that the salt must not be washed before use.
Women's committees are a strong force in every Sri Lankan village and vital to the success of the program. Support from the Kiwanis clubs for UNICEF's participatory nutrition program is assisting the women's committees to learn important nutrition messages, such as the need to use iodised salt. In every village which I visited in August 2000, the women loved showing me their kitchens and were particularly proud of their jar of iodised salt which was wrapped in back paper to prevent the iodine content reducing due to exposure to sunlight. These women, like the beaming salt factory manager, were very pleased to use the little bottle of purple indicator to show me that their jar of salt was iodised.
The mothers at the women's committee meetings said that since they have been learning about nutrition they have all noticed a significant change in their own families. They now know the simple things they can do to give their kids a healthy start in life, such as buying iodised salt.