The Salt Trading Corporation (STC) is set to celebrate the whole February as ‘iodine month’ beginning Friday (tomorrow). The move aims to promote consumption of iodised salt and control diseases caused by iodine deficiency like goiter, said the STC.

The STC has been observing February as iodine month since 1998.  The country is relieved of goiter at present, with the number of people suffering from the disease put at 44 percent in 1985, and the number declined to 0.4 percent in 2007, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The STC has made iodised salt available all over the country through its branches. According to a 2016 survey, 95 percent of children below 5 year consume iodised salt. The government aims to increase the number of people consuming iodised salt to 95 percent by 2018.