LEARNING FROM RURAL WOMEN HOW TO PROMOTE THE USE OF IODIZED SALT IN TIBETAN VILLAGES.
Iodized salt consumption in Tibet is a low as 34% percent compared with a national average of 95% for the whole of China according to 2002 national survey. UNICEF Consultant Wang Jing's assignment was to learn from the women about why the villagers used rock salt. After first explaining to them the benefits of iodized salt, the aim was then to work with the rural women on developing picture stories. These stories would communicate the benefits of iodized salt in their own language and using photographs taken by the women themselves. In this way，the women could develop messages reflecting local perceptions and culture, thereby overcoming the constraints on iodized salt use. It was a process which took five days but the picture stories can now be used to bring the message of iodized salt to other villages in Tibet.
WHY USING IODIZED SALT IS BETTER THAN USING ROCK SALT
Sangje was on her way home after bartering a bucket of wheat for a bag of rock salt.
…when she ran into two staff from the IDD project who asked her where she had been. Sangje told them she had been to the market to barter a bag of salt for her family.
The IDD staff explained to Sangje why it was better to use iodized salt. Adding iodine to salt was good for the brain development and will make children healthier, stronger and cleverer. Rock salt has none of these benefits.
Sangje liked the idea and went back home with a bag of iodized salt they gave her.
Sangje went home to find her husband using rock salt to make Suyou Tea. She told her husband that using iodized salt was good for the family's health. Her husband Gesang, told her that rock salt was cheaper and could be bartered for buck wheat .
Sangje insisted that health was more important than price and that we could save cash by selling the buck wheat to buy iodized salt.
Gesang thought it over and that night he used iodized salt for the cooking, adding the salt at the very last minute so that the heat would not destroy the iodine in the salt.
After dinner, Sangje explained the health benefit of using iodized salt to the whole family.
One day, Sangje and Gesang went to buy iodized salt at the village shop. A woman cadre they met on the way told them they could buy iodized salt at the village administrative office now, and she invited them to attend a village meeting.
At the meeting, the village head GesangQuzhen announced that the national and regional governments as well as UNICEF all wanted our villagers to use iodized salt to control IDD. They had therefore arranged to send iodized salt to our village at a cheaper price which would also ensure that the salt was the genuine product.
The villagers were very happy about the news and they waited in line to buy the iodized salt.
UNICEF Consultant Wang Jing continues with the story.
"A picture book explaining the facts about IDD and iodized salt was also developed with IDD staff to facilitate interpersonal communication process between the health workers and the villagers. The visual effect of pictures was well appreciated by the women participants during their discussions. "
"The picture book used a structured format to communicate key information to the villagers and can now be used by health workers to communicate about IDD with not only the villagers but also the policy makers at different levels".
A Picture Tool Book on IDD Control for Health Workers
The natural environment of Tibet leads to iodine deficiency.
The human body needs iodine for brain development.
Women easily develop goiters due to iodine deficiency, especially during pregnancy
One very serious impact of iodine deficiency is Cretinism, which results in both mental retardation and poor physical development.
Mild Iodine deficiency impairs intellectual capacity of children. This girl can not use numbers the way a healthy child can
Iodine is added to salt during the refining process to make iodized salt. Using iodized salt will prevent iodine deficiency
.
Add iodized salt at the end of the cooking process to prevent the heat from destroying the iodine in the salt.
Salt iodization is a national policy to improve the quality of life.
Wang Jing explains how two posters developed last year were tested with the villagers.
"Some wordings provided on the posters are too complicated, such as 'Zhili' which refers to both intelligence and body strength in Tibetan. This was changed to 'a cleverer baby and a stronger body' so as to be more readily understandable by local people"...
This story was edited by Charles Rycroft,UNICEF Communication Officer, using the field trip report prepared by UNICEF Consultant Wang Jing.
