Adequately iodized salt availability and associated factors in Gambela

Background: Iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs) are among the major public health problems for populations all over the world. Pregnant women, lactating women, women of reproductive age, and children younger than 3 years of age are vulnerable to IDDs.
Aim: This study aimed to determine availability of adequately iodized salt at household level and associated factors in Gambela town, Ethiopia.
Setting: The study was conducted among households in Gambela town, Southwest Ethiopia.
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2019. Multistage sampling method was employed to select 422 households. A structured questionnaire and rapid test kits were data collection instruments. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify association. Crude odds ratio and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with their respective confidence interval (CI) were used to present logistic regression analyses results.
Results: About 52.8% (95% CI: 0.47, 0.57) of households had adequately iodized salt. College diploma and above educational status (AOR=4.27, 95% CI: 1.47, 12.44), favourable attitude towards iodized salt use (AOR=5.69, 95% CI: 2.83, 11.42), walking less than 30 minutes to get iodized salt (AOR=4.69, 95% CI: 2.56, 8.60), using packed salt (AOR=2.75, 95% CI: 1.54, 4.93), and using covered salt container (AOR=3.93, 95% CI: 2.21, 6.98) were found to be positively associated with availability of adequately iodized salt.
Conclusion: The availability of iodized salt in Gambela town is below the WHO recommendation. Therefore, boosting strategies targeted to enhance community awareness on the benefit and handling practice of iodized salt is essential to improve availability of iodized salt.
Key words: Iodine deficiency disease, Iodized salt use, Availability, Gambela, Ethiopia