Reducing Salt Intake in Iran: Priorities and Challenges

In a recent United Nations High-Level meeting, world leaders unanimously adopted a political declaration on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and stated that “the global burden and threat of NCDs constitutes one of the major challenges for development in the twenty-first century, which undermines social and economic development throughout the world”.1 “This meeting has made the world sit up and take notice of the huge global burden that NCDs are placing on all countries. ... Countries now need to be urgently factoring NCDs into their longer term health planning alongside other pressing health challenges”.1 At the same meeting, salt reduction, as a tool to reduce the burden of NCDs, received overwhelming support by the group of seventy-seven developing countries (G77) and the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) countries.2