Country Profile- Guatemala

Population 1

Population:  12,347 millions

Population annual growth rate:  2.6%

P opulation < 18 years:  6.116 millions; <5 yrs: 1.935 millions

Crude b irth rate:   34 per 1000
Life expectancy at birth:   66 years

Current Iodine Nutrition Situation

Median urinary iodine concentration was: 72 µg/L (1999).

Iodized salt utilization

The recent national suvey reported that household iodized salt consumption was 63% (2004).

Iodine deficiency control program in Guatemala started in 1954 with a compulsory national salt iodization, yet it has performed erratically over its long history. Salt iodization fell from 85% (1995) to under 50% (2002).

Table 1

Quality of Iodized Salt at Household Level in Guatemala 5

(% Samples above cut-off points)

Salt Situation Analysis

Production 4

There are approximately 185 salt producers in Guatemala , among small, medium and large producers.

1ton = 22qq

Seventy four per cent (74%) of the sea salt in Guatemala (about 52,000 M.T.) is collected by 15-20 operations, whereas the remaining 26% (18,000 M.T.) is done by 250 ± 50 small collectors widely dispersed in the Pacific cost. The small collectors constitute a very informal sector, and its members are continuously changing, with an average life of two years 5 .

Most salt iodization (55-60%) is made by manual addition of a mixture of potassium iodate with salt (yodosal) and sometimes with calcium carbonate (yodocal)- and mixing with shovels on the ground; 15-20% of some "large" producers use mechanical mixers, and 25% is fortified by aspersion in the factory Prodisal 5 .

The establishment of Prodisal (salt iodization factory) aimed that the small sea salt collectors would sell their product as a raw material to this company. UNICEF invested and provided support to this idea. Nevertheless, once the salt processing industry started to function in 2000, the small salt collectors headed mainly by middlemen of the salt market refused to sell their product to this industry. Prodisal (25% of the national production) satisfies most of the salt needs of the food industry. Food industry also buys refined salt from Mexico 5 .

Forty percent (40%) of salt is sold without any brand, and most of the "labeled" salt cannot be traced to a responsible person or industry, because they are not authorized brands. Supermarkets in the main cities only sell very few brands of salt, such as Vitasal, B&Z, Atzan, YaEstá, and Radiante. The first is produced by Prodisal, and the rests by the other "large" producers.

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Universal Salt Iodization Program

Information, Education & Communication (IEC) Activities

The Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance is responsible for the program. An NGO (LIDECON) is active in education and local encouragement for iodized salt use. 2

Legislation

The Congress passed a new Food Fortification Law in 1992 (Decree 44-92 on July 23 rd , 1992), which later was accompanied by regulations specific for each type of food, one of which was salt (Governmental Accord 496-93 on September 24 th , 1993), which fixed the iodine level at 30-100 mg/kg, and made mandatory the commercialization of salt for human consumption in individual and labeled bags.

The government in January 2004, passed a new regulation making mandatory the addition of fluoride (175-225 mg/kg) to salt, and fixing the level of iodine from 30 to 60 mg/kg. Thus far, the current government has not enforced the regulation and its application date might be postponed at least two years because the pressure of traditional "large" salt producers and traders. Independently to the introduction or not of the fluoridation program, and despite the regulations enacted in 1993 and 2004, the quality of the iodization program continues being bad.

Salt fortification guidelines for the addition of iodine and fluorine were issued by the government to implement the revised General Food Fortification Legislation. The new guidelines were introduced to small, medium-sized and large salt producers.

Program Monitoring and Evaluation

Since 1995, UNICEF Guatemala has promoted the establishment of a monitoring system on iodized salt commercialization. INCAP/WHO has recently joined this project. To date, it has been able to evaluate the compliance of the law and how the salt is reaching the population. Each year, samples from selected schools are gathered and with that information an evaluation is made on the quality of the program 4 .

Monitoring of fortified salt is done regularly, covering a larger national area under coordination of both the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Commerce & Economy 6 .

Other Interventions
no data

Key Lessons Learned 3

The salt iodization program was very successful because sea salt was produced by a reduced number of producers; only one company ("salinas Santa Rosa") was responsible for more than 90% of the national salt production. However, at the end of the 70´s the country initiated the construction of its pacific port ("Puerto Quetzal"), which caused the destruction of the sea salt production fields of that company. As consequence, hundreds of small sea salt collectors originated to all length of the Pacific shore of the country.

Any promotional or social marketing programs regarding iodized salt, in the absence of a true salt industry and an organized commercialization, will continue being ineffective and a waste of resources.

Challenges and Constraints

Salt iodization in Guatemala will not improve until the sea salt production and commercialization in the country is ordered and put under control. To date, the system is only providing profit to the middlemen and sellers, and negatively affecting the small sea salt collectors who are receiving a very low payment for their product, and consumers who are purchasing a product of the worst quality 5 .

Forty percent (40%) of salt is sold without any brand, and most of the "labeled" salt cannot be traced to a responsible person or industry, because they are not authorized brands. Supermarkets in the main cities only sell very few brands of salt, such as Vitasal, B&Z, Atzan, YaEstá, and Radiante. The first is produced by Prodisal, and the rests by the other "large" producers 5 .

Future Plants
no data

References

•  UNICEF. The State of the World's Children. 2005

•  IDD NL 20(1):5, 2004

•  Dunn, JT. Towards the Global Elimination of Brain Damage Due to Iodine Deficiency. Section IX: Sustaining Optimal Iodine Nutrition. Oxford University Press, 2004.

•  UNICEF Guatemala. Towards the Universal Salt Iodization. 2005.

•  Dary, O. A short history and current situation (2004) of the salt iodisation program in Guatemala . MOST/The USAID Micronutrient Program. Dec. 10, 2004 .

•  Recinos, S and Boy, E. Iodine Network E-Bulletin: Salt Iodization in Guatemala . August 2005.