WHO together with George Institute, Australia and ICCIDD hosted the Information Exchange Forum with Private sector and NGO and Technical meeting on Salt Reduction and iodine fortification strategies in public health.

21 May 2013

In Sydney, Australia, from March 25-27 2013, WHO together with George Institute and ICCIDD hosted the Information Exchange Forum with Private sector and NGO and Technical meeting on Salt Reduction and iodine fortification strategies in public health. This was an opportunity to inaugurate the first WHO CC on Population Sodium Reduction at George Institute for Global Health. The meeting confirmed that space where two initiatives can collaborate and benefit from each other are: joint surveillance, as levels of iodine depend on salt consumption, approach to industry promoting salt reduction and universal salt iodization, and advocacy with governments to coordinate both programs. Some of the next steps identified beyond  the report of the meeting are the preparation of Policy Statement and media release; organizing leadership through a global interdisciplinary committee under auspices of WHO to define plan and goals, empowering the broader community; promoting research; developing a salt reduction toolkit and updating the WHO ICCIDD guide for program managers and USI regulations.