Homs-Sana
Today, in Homs, an iodine screening campaign began, targeting schoolchildren from 6 to 12 years old, and covering about 380 students in 19 schools in the governorate.
The Director of School Health, Dr. Hatoon Al-Tawashi, indicated that the campaign launched by the Ministry of Health, the Directorate of Primary Health Care, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, the Directorate of School Health, targets 266 schools between the countryside and the city in 14 governorates to conduct an iodine survey for children aged 6 to 12 years and continues until the 30th current month.
Al-Tawashi pointed out the importance of the campaign to know the levels of iodine deficiency among students and work to support them healthily by adding iodine to table salt, as it is a very important element and its deficiency affects children’s development, mental faculties and academic comprehension because it interferes with the synthesis of thyroid hormones.
Al-Tawashi added that parents’ approvals were obtained for the students targeted for the study to conduct the test and to bring a sample of table salt from each student’s family. Three survey teams were formed, distributed among 19 schools in the governorate, and 20 male and female students from each school were taken.
In turn, Engineer Lina Rabahih, Head of the Nutrition Program at the Homs Health Directorate, pointed out the importance of titrating iodine in the urine of children, given that iodine deficiency has a negative impact on the educational attainment process and on the mental and physical abilities of children, and its availability greatly reduces premature births for expectant mothers and fetal miscarriages.
Rabahia noted that the teams for the campaign's survey were selected from among the centrally trained personnel in the Ministry of Health, and all the necessary equipment was distributed to them. Random samples were identified for schools from the Central Bureau of Statistics in Damascus, and three personnel were assigned to each team to complete the tasks assigned to them, such as writing the questionnaire and taking the required samples.
The activities of the launch of the campaign in Homs were attended by Director of Education Walid Al-Marie, Dr. Muhammad Muslim Al-Atassi, Director of Homs Health Department, and Dr. Ghiath Abbas, Head of the School Health Department in Homs.
all good
