Question:easy

Use of iodized salt in the iodine deficiency control programme is an example of?

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Adding a nutrient to prevent disease before it starts is specific protection under primary prevention.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
  • Primary prevention
  • Secondary prevention
  • Tertiary prevention
  • None
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: To classify any public health action, ask where it sits on the disease timeline. If it stops disease from ever starting, it is primary; if it catches disease early, secondary; if it manages complications, tertiary.

Step 2: Iodizing salt simply tops up dietary iodine across the whole population so that goitre and other iodine deficiency disorders do not arise. Since it works in well people before disease onset, it belongs to the primary level, confirming option a.

Step 3: Primary prevention itself splits into health promotion and specific protection. Adding a specific nutrient through fortification is a textbook example of specific protection, sitting beside immunization and chemoprophylaxis.

Step 4: Compare this with screening a community for goitre, which would be secondary, or rehabilitating a child with cretinism, which would be tertiary. The salt fortification step is unmistakably primary prevention.

\[\boxed{\text{Primary prevention}}\]
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