Kangra valley pilot project - the pioneer of National Iodine Deficiency Disorder Control Programme in India

In order to find out whether iodine deficiency is a causative factor of endemic goiter in the Himalayan belt and to find out the effectiveness of iodine prophylaxis, a prospective study was organized in 1956 in Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh in India. (Sooch and Ramalingaswami, 1965). The study region was divided into A,B and C zones. After a baseline survey in 1956, the salt distributed to zones A and C was fortified with potassium iodide and potassium iodate, respectively, while zone B was supplied with unfortified salt. The salt fortification was at a level that supplied approximately 200 microgram of iodine per person per day. After six years of iodization, in 1962, a marked decrease in the prevalence of goiter was observed in zone A (from 38% to 19%) and zone C (38% to 15%) without any significant change in zone B. Six years later, in 1968, a systematic survey of goiter prevalence showed a further reduction in zones A and C (8.5% and 9.1% respectively). This project laid the foundation of National Goiter control project which later on was changed to National Iodine deficiency disorder control programme in India.