The November IDD Newsletter is now online.  It features stories on progress in Pakistan and reviews the CDC laboratory network.  Other stories include reports on Belarus, Mexico, Nepal and the Philippines.

Dr. Fereidoun Azizi, Director of the Endocrine Research Center at Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and president of the Iran Endocrine Society, has been named "The Distinguished Scientist of 2011" by the Iran Academy of Medical Sciences.  Azizi serve as ICCIDD's regional coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.  Congratulations!

Top leaders from ICCIDD Dr. Jerry Burrow, chairman, Dr. Michael Zimmermann, executive director, and Treasurer Dan Levac, joined by ICCIDD regional coordinator Dr. Izzeldin Al Sharief, participated in a seminar in Dubai and predicted that the United Arab Emirates will soon be declared iodine deficiency free, WAM, the Emirates news agency reported December 21.  Dr. Mahmoud Fikri, a key leader of the anti-IDD program credited the UAE's "clear health strategic plans aimed at human health as they represent the cornerstone of the nation's development and progress."

New World Health Organization survey data show that malnutrition in Nigeria is responsible for 5.7% of the hunger problems in the world and widespread problems, especially among the young.  Forty percent of children under age five are stunted and a quarter are underweight, reports allAfrica.com.

Ghana is Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) to combat nutritional deficiencies including IDD, AllAfrica.com reported December 12.  "SUN is designed to raise awareness and investments in improving nutrition during the critical period of a child's life, which is from pregnancy to two years of age or the first 1000 days of life" and is being run by Ghana's National Development Planning Commission.  Eighty percent of Ghanaian children under age 5 and 30% of the women in the country suffer from nutritional deficiencies.

Nearly one quarter of the population of the United Arab Emirates is aged 10-24 and they have challenging health risks including iodine deficiency according to Dr. Mahmoud Fikri of the UAE Ministry of Health.  Fikri outlined programs implemented by his agency (including salt iodization) as a model for the other Gulf states in a meeting in Dubai sponsored by the World Health Organization, The Gulf Today reported December 13.

ICCIDD and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) have launched a new global salt iodization project and appointed Intertek as an independent cooperation partner. On this Project, Intertek will act as an independent project manager on quality assurance (QA) and control (QC) and an interface between the two main actors: GAIN and the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency and Disorders (ICCIDD) both of which will provide this initiative with technical expertise on salt iodization. Within its project management role Intertek will support countries receiving support through the GAIN-UNICEF Universal Salt Iodization Partnership Project through the provision of technical QA and QC services.

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ICCIDD leaders, in a letter published in in the November 5 issue of The Lancet, reminded that iodine deficiency is not a problem confined to low-income nations; it has now been documented in the UK.  ICCIDD board members Frits van der Haar and Gregory Gerasimov, former ICCIDD executive director and current Board member David P. Haxton and current ICCIDD executive director Michael Zimmermann added that the UK results paralleled the experience in Australia and New Zealand where IDD has re-emerged as a significant public health priority after long-presumed success in overcoming iodine deficiency. 

Dr. Elizabeth Pearce of the Boston University School of Medicine and a member of the ICCIDD Board of Directors, delivered the prestigious Van Meter Award lecture at the 81st annual meeting of the American Thyroid Association.  The award recognizes "outstanding contributions by a young researcher" in thyroid gland research.

Ghana's Food and Drugs Board recently conducted a workshop for journalists "to propagate the need to sue iodated salt," ModernGhana reported October 19.  Among the topics presented were iodine deficiency disorders, the importance of iodated salt in the human diet and the 15-year old legislative mandate for iodated salt.

Adding local muscle to the national Filipino campaign for iodized salt, the town of Siayan in Zamboanga del Norte has enacted a municipal ordinance requiring grocers and restaurants to sell and use iodozed salt, reports the Philippine Information Agency.  The mayor is forming a team to monitor compliance; penalties include incarceration.  Siayan is the poorest town in the country and suffers severe iodine deficiencies.

About 60% of Pakistan's population faces food insecurity according to a new National Nutrition Survey reported by The Express Tribune (with the International Herald Tribune) in September.  Iodine deficiency was documented, but the "iodine deficiency rate had reduced during the last decade."

Many American charitable groups, including churches, have voiced concern about the plight of women in Afghanistan.  News comes from the Missoulian (Missoula, MT) that one group is doing something more than talk about it.  The St. Ann of Bonner and Seeley Lake parishes have been collecting iodized salt from its congregants and mailing the donations from its SALT program to prevent IDD in Afghanistan.  The media story noted the concern when the packaged white powder was opened in a spill at the local post office.

 A new study by Bath and colleagues from the University of Surrey and published in the British Journal of Nutrition examines the iodine concentration in organic versus conventional cow's milk and concludes that the relative lack of iodine in organic milk could compromise iodine intakes and therefore increase the risk of deficiency, as milk is the primary source of iodine in UK diets.

The Supreme Court of India has granted a 6-month extension of the ban on non-iodized salt, but the justices urged the Legislature to enact a more permanent policy, warning:  "if it fails to take any action within the expiry of six months from today, Rule 44-I [the ban on non-iodized salt] shall cease to operate."  News One carried the story.

A coalition of local salt producers (TAMACO) in partnership with GAIN, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, UNICEF, government agencies and two salt industry associations, is seeing progress in its efforts to lift the country's current salt iodization program.  Today, only 25% of the nation's salt is adequately iodized.  GAIN is investing in salt co-ops to iodized properly and to educate the marketplace about the value of iodized salt.  After only eight months, the increased demand for properly iodized salt has stimulated the demand for local salt, GAIN reported:  "The participative model is both contributing to local poverty reduction and decreases in iodine deficiencies."

The government of Sri Lanka reported July 3 that consumption of iodized salt has slipped to 58% because consumers are purchasing non-iodized "salt that is discolored or contain(s) impurities."  By law, all food salt must contain 15-30 micrograms/kg.  "Manufacturers and Retailers who supply Salt that does not contain 15-30 percent of iodine (sic) in Sri Lanka will be severely dealt with said the Ministry of Health authorities.

A new report in Kyrgyzstan, produced by the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and the World Bank, finds undernutrition causes 22% of the deaths of children under 5 years and costs the Kyrgyz Republic $32 million (US) annually.

UNICEF executive director Tony Lake said under-nourished children results in "deepening the cycle of poverty" and called for greater investment in childhood nutrition.  UNICEF pointed out that "three-quarters of the salt is iodized" but that "iodizing all salt sold will reduce iodine deficiency resulting in a US$500,000 annual benefit due to increased worker productivity".

The study results were unsurprising.  What was surprising was that the sponsoring organization released them.  The Scottish Food Standards Agency conceded in a study released June 22 that salt intake in Scotland is unchanged over the past 5 years.

 Earlier studies had shown unchanged salt consumption in the UK and North America over the past 40 years.  Thus, salt remains the best vehicle to deliver dietary iodine since salt intake is universal and its unchanging intake level makes it easy to calculate dosage.

UNICEF, the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan and the Kazakh Academy of Nutrition have announced Kazakhstan will provide the resource laboratory for 15 countries in the region in order to reinforce monitoring of IDD and its elimination through universal salt iodization, according to a UNICEF announcement.

ICCIDD has a new executive director: Swiss scientist Michael Zimmermann.  Since 2005, Zimmermann has been editor of ICCIDD’s flagship IDD Newsletter.  Zimmermann pledged renewed emphasis on protecting expectant mothers and infants during a child’s  “first thousand days” of life by “focusing the scientific and technical strengths of ICCIDD and drawing on the unique strength of our multi-disciplinary network to eliminate iodine deficiency in these first ‘1000 days’.”

Zimmermann summarized:  “Micronutrient deficiency represents the most widespread form of global malnutrition. In recent decades micronutrient malnutrition has surpassed the problem of underweight due to food insecurity. As many as two billion people, representing one third of the world’s population, have low iodine intakes. Iodine deficiency early in the life cycle can cause irreparable damage to the brain and irreversible intellectual and motor impairment.” 

David P. Haxton has stepped down as executive director of ICCIDD, a position he has held since 2005.  His primary message has been: IDD is the most preventable form of mental retardation, and optimal daily iodine nutrition can prevent it.  His leadership at ICCIDD included global travel to more than 60 countries and directing the team of ICCIDD regional coordinators working to forge national coalitions to combat iodine deficiency disorders.

His ICCIDD leadership capped a career at UNICEF during which he was instrumental in founding ICCIDD itself in 1986.  He worked 15 years in South America and 8 years as UNICEF's regional director in South Asia. Earlier he was general secretary of Junior Chamber International.

Under his leadership, ICCIDD moved strongly forward in partnership with international development agencies, private sector groups, professional societies and civil institutions, recording significant progress in salt iodization  He has been a leading voice in international development councils and in written advocacy in journals and newspapers worldwide.  

Haxton will remain active in ICCIDD and in the Council on World Affairs. A widower, David has 6 children, 15 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Two-thirds of African children don't officially exist -- they don't have birth certificates, reports the Huffington Post.  A story from a World Bank official describes the role of iodine and other vital nutrients in overcoming poverty.

Historically, the Spanish Catalonian seacoast has achieved iodine sufficiency, but the mountains of the Pyrenees have been iodine deficient.  A new study of pregnant women in the two regions confirms, however, that use of iodized salt has made the mountainous population iodine sufficient while expectant mothers along the seacoast are only marginally sufficient.  The study appeared online in ScienceDirect.  

A small US study of vegetarians and vegans, mostly women, found that vegetarians were consuming an amount marginally lower than that recommended, but vegans were half the recommended intake level and consuming 79 micrograms of iodine daily.  Below 100 is considered iodine deficient and pregnant women require 150 - 249 micrograms/day.  The study was published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism and by Reuters Health to the general public.

Zawya.com reports that Jordan's 2010 National Survey to Assess Iodine Deficiency Disorders among School Children has documented a reduction in goiter prevalence from 33.5% in 2000 to 4.9%.  The study of 4,600 children aged 8-10 was conducted jointly with the World Health Organization.  96.3% of Jordanian households use iodized salt, compared to 86% a decade earlier.

People who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  Vietnam's Central Endocrine Hospital has just reported that use of iodized salt in Hanoi has plunged from nearly 100% in 2005 to 25.6% today with "similar decreases" in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), according to Báomói.com.  Tests in public school students have found a 25% increase in iodine deficiency.

The University of Pisa Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism will continue for at least another four years as a World Health Organization "Collaborating Center for the Study and Treatment of Thyroid Diseases and other Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders," reports the program director, Dr. Aldo Pinchera, ICCIDD regional coordinator for Western Europe.

May 15 was "Iodine Deficiency Disorders Prevention Day" in China and the Ministry of Health used the occasion to announce that the single national standard for iodized salt in the world's most populous country will be customized by region to deliver the appropriate level of iodine to supplement the common diet in each region.  Free Paper carried the story.

The United Arab Emirates conducted a seminar this week celebrating its achievement of IDD freedom; 94% of the population has access to iodized salt.  ICCIDD chair Jerry Burrow and regional coordinator Izzeldin Hussein participated in the event in Dubai.  An English language story was carried by the Khaleej Times.  RC Hussein's report is available online.

Use of adequately-iodized salt has reached 47.3% of rural households according to a new study released by ICCIDD, the Micronutrient Initiative and the Salt Commissioner of India, UpVery.com reported April 25.  The AC Nielsen survey of eight Indian states updates the last national survey, 2005-2006.  The earlier survey found just 27% of rural households used iodized salt.  Dr. CS Pandav, ICCIDD regional coordinator, was part of the team of sponsors.

An article in the April 21 Global Post liberally quotes ICCIDD vice-chair and regional coordinator Cres Eastman regarding his study of the environmental cause of mental handicaps in certain villages in Thailand suffering iodine deficiency.  The article notes a study by the Thai health ministry showing the IQ of Thai children at 91.  Even this is better than the 2002 figure of 89.  The UNICEF nutrition advisor quoted attributed the continuing challenges of providing iodized salt in the region (and iodized fish oil in Thailand) to "weak government regulation."

India endorses double fortified salt

India's Prime Minister has endorsed a national initiative to double fortify salt with iodine and iron.  While salt iodization is mandatory, the iron fortification will be voluntary -- though the double fortified salt will be required in all government nutrition programs.  IBN carried the story April 20.

A 2009 all-India survey finds that 71% of Indian households have access to adequately iodized salt and nearly 20% more use salt with some, but inadequate amounts, of iodine.  This represents a sharp increase from a similar survey in 2006 when only 54% of households had access to quality iodized salt.   See the full survey or a PowerPoint summary.

Western Europe, North America and Australia had all been thought iodine-sufficient due to widespread use of iodized table salt.  While U.S. surveys show marked decline, Australia discovered a significant deficiency several years ago and has mandated use of iodized salt in bread.  A new survey of British teens, conducted in 2009, found average intakes barely half the recommended amounts with the authors concluding that "the UK is now iodine-deficient."  The report was published in Endocrine Abstracts.

The Copenhagen Consensus Center is concerned that well-meaning people intent on helping others may be mis-directing charitable contributions and offers a Guide to Giving: Making Your Donations Count introduction to organizations that it believes can deliver the greatest benefit.  Included in this limited list is ICCIDD (see page 28).

The Pakistani Health Ministry has launched a program to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to gather statistics on iodized salt in the country, according to The Tribune Express.  The program received technical and financial support from The Micronutrient Initiative (MI president Venkatesh Mannar serves on the ICCIDD board).

"Stunningly widespread" bad diets among the world's poor people impose "long-term damage to societies as well as to individuals," argues The Economist, March 24.  The analysis observers that "governments often try to deal with the problems of nutrition in the same breath as the problems of starvation: by dishing out cheap food."  Rather, "what is needed are little interventions:  adding iodine to salt here, doling out vitamin A supplements there."

A new report from UNICEF-Ghana finds 68% of Ghanaians do not consume iodized salt and the same percentage do not eat seafood, a major source of dietary iodine, the Ghana News Agency reports.

The (UK) Mail reports "Panic buying as China sees hope in salt."  A little knowledge can be dangerous, and Chinese consumers have been bombarded with admonitions to consume iodized salt, so it should probably have been foreseen that those worried about radiation, "knowing" that iodine would be thyroid-protective, would stampede to buy more salt.  China National Salt Industry Corp. (represented on the ICCIDD board) issued a statement that salt supplies were ample and the government warned against hoarding and promised hefty fines for price inflators.

The massive earthquake and tsumami that have devastated Japan and caused radioactive releases from the Fukushima nuclear generation facility have prompted a spike of sales of potassium iodate and potassium iodide tablets worldwide, Meaghan Ringwelski reported on Yahoo! News.

The two largest countries in Eastern Europe are also the two with the biggest IDD problems.  In Russia and Ukraine, efforts to promote use of iodized salt have been thwarted by pharmaceutical companies, salt produces and some food processors who favor a strategy of using iodine tablets as supplements.  Some have questioned the health benefits of iodine or alleged that dietary iodine creates vitamin deficiencies.  The insightful analyis by Pavol Stracansky appears in the Inter-Press-Service's "The Story Underneath."

A new study in rural southeastern Australia will study lamb mortality in the wake of drought conditions, reports Australia's ABC network.  Animal health problems began last year with observed iodine deficiency, a rarity in the area.  Veterinarians and public health officials are trying to assess why young livestock are dying.

An article in the Medical Journal of Australia reports that a study of 86 pregnant women found that use of iodized salt in bread, mandated by regulation, is insufficient and, in fact, has had no appreciable benefit for pregnant women.  The researchers recommend use of supplements.

A new Pakistan national nutrition survey discovered by 36% of mothers and 23% of pre-school children are severely iodine deficient, according to an Associated Press of Pakistan report.  Only 17% of Pakistani households are using iodized salt.

UNICEF announced March 2 a new regional study in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States showing that 18 of 20 countries studied have reaped significant benefits by requiring universal salt iodization.  Russia and Ukraine have not adopted mandatory USI.  Since they are the two largest countries, USI currently benefits 51% of the region's population; that would increase to 98% if Russia and Ukraine adopt USI, the report concludes.

Resurgent global economic activity has restored eroded demand for iodine while "production remained flat with no major capacity expansions," Industrial Minerals reported for its March edition.  The growing demand is not attributable to increased salt iodization.  Rather, the iodine is being utilized to manufacture LCD (computer) displays and in x-ray applications.

Researchers routinely discover IDD in remote, underdeveloped areas, but it may be a case of looking where the light is best.  A research team from the University of Paris (France) has studies a population near Paris and discovered widespread iodine deficiency with significant negative correlation with fetal thyroid development.  The research was reported in PLoS.

There is unequivocal evidence that severe iodine deficiency in pregnancy impairs brain development in the child, according to ICCIDD member Dr. Sheila A. Skeaff of the University of Otago in New Zealand writing in Nutrients. However, only two intervention trials have assessed neurodevelopment in children of moderately iodine deficient mothers finding improved neurodevelopment in children of mothers supplemented earlier rather than later in pregnancy.  Since neither study was randomized or controlled, further research is needed.

Iodized salt comes to Facebook!  Marketers of Fidel Iodized Salt in the Philippines wax lyrical.

ICCIDD executive director David Haxton has outlined the outcomes that should define "success" in the global campaign against iodine deficiency disorders.  The key is achievement of universal salt iodization and the key to that is sustainability, he explains.

The Network for Consumer Protection in Islamabad announced February 11 that it has assurances from Pakistan's Ministry of Health that all of Pakistan's food salt will be iodized by the year 2015.  Remarks were delivered to a seminar on breastfeeding and salt iodization and reported by the financial daily Business Recorder. 

Perhaps the greatest challenge to overcoming IDD is not technical; it's political.  Thus, when Indian prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh last week at an international policy consultation in New Delhi, identified "hidden hunger" including India's severe iodine deficiency, that political support is news indeed.  The prime minister's statement was posted online by his office.

A new study in the Harvard Undergraduate Research Journal by Shubha Bhat addresses the basic assumption of all salt iodization programs: whether having iodized salt available to the population translates into better iodine nutrition and the health benefits flowing from eradicating IDD.  The finding:  iodized salt works.

New research published in the Medical Journal of Australia by ICCIDD vice chair and Regional Coordinator Dr. Cres Eastman, says the iodine deficiency identified is causing neuro development damage to the population.  Of particular concern, he added, in an interview with ABC News, is the impact on the health of pregnant women and their babies.

With support from a UN World Food Programme project, women in northeastern Ghana have organized themselves as an independent enterprise to iodize, bag and distribute iodized salt, the WFP announced earlier this month.

Filipino campaign focus on preventing thyroid disease

January 23-29 is Goiter Awareness Week in the Philippines, by presidential proclamation, the Philippine Information Agency has announced.

Salt banks in Ghana to boost consumption of iodized salt

Salt the primary vehicle to provide iodine fortification, Karie Atkinson of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition in an online photo essay about progress in Ghana. The essay points out that "insufficient iodine in diets can lead to miscarriages, irreversible brain and physical damage and goiter."

Pretell overviews world iodine intake at International Thyroid Association

ICCIDD Americas regional coordinator and former Peruvian health minister Eduardo Pretell recently provided the International Thyroid Association an overview of iodine intakes worldwide.  Read it here.

EU authorizes iodine health claim

The European Food Safety Authority has authorized food manufactures to include on their labels the claim "iodine contributes to the normal growth of children, NutraIngredients.com reports.

Filipino salt traders to test quality of iodized salt

The iodized salt marketplace in the Philippines will ensure consumers get the iodine they expect when they buy iodized salt through a new partnership of salt traders and local public health authorities, using a grant from the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), reported BusinessWorld on November 2nd.

Iodized salt progress in Nepal threatened

Medical professionals are a mainstay of national coalitions for sustainable salt iodization, thus articles in general medical journals like The Lancet are important -- as is this "World Report" item about Nepal by Nayanah Siva.

Swiss study finds need to supplement infant iodine intake

A study in the September 1 issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism by ICCIDD board member Dr. Michael Zimmermann examined the assumption that if children and pregnant women were iodine sufficient, infants would be as well.  Conclusion: even where iodized salt is being used, supplemental fortification of infant formula milk and/or complementary foods is recommended.

Spanish study confirms iodized salt or iodine supplements' value to pregnant women

Spanish researchers have confirmed that adding iodine supplements during pregnancy, and consuming iodized salt, can ensure iodine sufficiency during the critical development months of fetal development, according to a report in the October 18 issue of Thyroid.

See this video on salt iodization in Kenya

The government of Kenya has produced a great video on its salt iodization progress.  Congratulations!

Ukraine "losing its intellectual, professional and educational potential by failing to iodize salt

Procrastination in implementing universal salt iodization is depleting Ukraine's intellectual potential and "degrading society" concluded speakers at a September 23 seminar in Kiev held in conjunction with the 4th National Congress on Bioethics, reports UNICEF/Kiev.

American restaurants should use iodized salt to halt US iodine deficiency trend

An October 1 article in Environmental Health Perspectives documents the declining iodine status of the U.S. population and suggests an immediate remedy would be to have the food service industry utilize iodized salt consistently.  Rebecca Renner uses research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and quotes ICCIDD board members Kevin Sullivan, Michael Zimmermann, Elizabeth Pearce and Richard Hanneman.

Azerbaijan suspends sale of low-iodine Russian, Ukrainian salt

Azerbaiijanian officials suspended sale of inadequately-iodized Extra Salt from Ukraine and Bassol Salt from Russia and the importer was ordered to remove the salt from the marketplace, Trend News Agency reported September 27.

Mannar, double-fortified salt praised for technical innnovation

ICCIDD board member Venkatesh Mannar, president of Micronutrient Initiative, was named Sept. 21 as one of 15 Laureates fo The Tech Awards 2010 for his work creating double-fortified salt (iodine and iron).  Double fortified salt required innovative food technology to combine the iodine and iron; previously "iron could not be added to iodized salt because the properties of the two ingredients cancelled each other out when combined.," reports CNW.

Zimmermann calls for "new strategies" against IDD

Noting that one-third the world is iodine deficient and 30% of households lack access to iodized salt, ICCIDD board member Dr. Michael B. Zimmermann told the International Thyroid Congress in Paris that new strategies to target iodine supplementation beyond the consensus strategy of universal salt iodization.  He called for use of TSH and urinary iodine to assess iodine deficiency in infants and using a throglobulin assay on dried blood spots to identify iodine deficiency.

China has proposed tightening the range of allowable iodine fortification in its iodized salt from 20-60 ppm to 20-30 ppm, CRIEnglish.com has reported. Public comments will be accepted until September 12.

Disease caused by major micronutrient deficiencies posed a growing and urgent problem for the newly emerging countries of Central Asia in the 1990s. The Asian Development Bank responded with a regional food fortification initiative - the first major initiative using public-private partnerships to address public health problems in the region. See the full ADB report.

China presses ahead on salt iodization, dismisses concern of excess iodine

China's health ministry held a press conference July 12 renewing their commitment to providing iodized salt throughout the country and "refuted concerns of excessive iodine intake, Xinhua reported.

Blog for Self Magazine suggests US food processors use iodized salt

"Experts worry that reducing salt will lead to iodine deficiency" headlined the new SELFNutritionData blog, noting the "irony" of the U.S. pioneering in salt iodization in the 1920s and rehearsing that "the American Thyroid Association is worried that if the sodium police get their way and people really start cutting back on salt, thyroid problems and birth defects could be an unintended consequence."

As long as we're bossing around the food industry and requiring them to reduce the sodium in their products, perhaps we ought to require them to use iodized salt.�

ICCIDD Board bestows Basil Hetzel Award on Nicholas D. Kristof of NY Times

Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times is the winner of the inaugural winner of the Basil Hetzel Award for his understanding and advocacy of “the crucial role of micronutrients and the model achievements of iodized salt in meeting the challenge of sustainable, adequate iodine nutrition.”  The award was approved by the Board of Directors of the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) at its meeting in Alexandria, VA on June 24.

“The Award carries a cash prize, but rules of the New York Times maintain the paper’s strict policy of not allowing its journalists to accept cause-related awards,” explained ICCIDD chairman Dr. Gerard Burrow, a former dean of the Yale University School of Medicine.  Mr. Kristof has informed Dr. Burrow that he had to decline the award.

The Hetzel Award singled out Mr. Kristof’s role in stimulating sympathy and commitment for the cause of iodine nutrition, particularly for children and women.  He has popularized understanding of the ‘hidden hunger’ of micronutrient malnutrition and has called the attention of millions to the role of iodized salt in his column ‘Raising the World’s I.Q.’  Without his work, the world would know far less about the findings of the Copenhagen Consensus which rates the cost-benefit ratios of various public health interventions and has determined that iodizing salt and fortifying other foods with micronutrients is an unrivaled public investment opportunity, at only pennies per year per person, ICCIDD’s Board noted.  

The ICCIDD Hetzel Award recognizes “the person making the most significant public reportage of iodine deficiency disorders and the necessity of sustainable national programs” anywhere in the world.  Dr. Basil Hetzel, a founder of ICCIDD 25 years ago, has been at the forefront of the global campaign to overcome iodine deficiency and its associated mental impairment.  His efforts have firmly established the causal role of iodine deficiency in brain damage to newborns and the imperative of iodine nutrition.

“Effective journalists understand the importance of putting a ‘human face’ on news reportage,” Burrow added.  “Mr. Kristof’s understanding of the crucial contribution of salt iodization, happily, has been married to his compassion and communication skills.  His stories from South Asia and West Africa have universal application, enormous power and compelling character.  Like Basil Hetzel, Mr. Kristof has seen an important problem, taken time to understand the problem and its causes, and projected himself in leadership to make the world a better place for us all.”

The International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) is the only international organization specifically constituted to promote optimal iodine nutrition and the elimination of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD).  ICCIDD's multidisciplinary global network consists of over 600 specialists from more than 100 countries.

CDC scientists highlight US iodine deficiency among pregnant women

This week's headline in The Journal of Nutrition headlined work from scientists at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention:  "Some subgroups of reproductive age women in the United States may be at risk for iodine deficiency."   US iodine intakes have plummeted from 320 micrograms/day to less than 150 and pregnant women average only just above the deficiency threshold of 150 (at 143).

US iodine levels "a worry": American Thyroid Association

Writing in the June 10 New England Journal of Medicine, members of the American Thyroid Association affirmed that "Iodized salt is an important source of dietary iodine in the U.S. and worldwide. Iodine, essential for the synthesis of thyroid hormones, is obtained solely through diet," and warned that "Americans' iodine levels have decreased 50 percent over the past three decades."  They called on "commercial food manufacturers" to begin the use of iodized salt.  Bloomberg Businessweek has the full story.

China celebrates 17 years of progress with National IDD Day and high-level forum

More than 100 high-ranking officials and global iodine experts gathered for a one-day forum in Beijing May 15 to celebrate China's 17th National IDD Day.  Read the full ICCIDD report on the meeting.

Australian Thyroid Foundation urges pharmacists to show leadership on iodine nutrition

The Australian Thyroid Foundation has sent out information packs to pharmacies around Australia to help them discuss the importance of adequate iodine intake, including supplementation, with their pregnant and breastfeeding customers, Pharmacy News reports.

Today, May 25, is World Thyroid Day

The European Thyroid Association and American Thyroid Association etablished World Thyroid Day, May 25, back in 2008 to promote public awareness of thyroid disease.  Thyroid disease, today the most widely occurring endocrine disorder, represents a rapidly growing problem round the world. It afflicts millions of people, affecting their daily life, increasing morbidity, reducing productivity and deteriorating the quality of life. In babies and children thyroid disease impacts the growth and development of the brain and body.

ICCIDD advocates before World Health Assembly

ICCIDD chairman Jerry Burrow spoke May 21 before the World Health Assembly of the UN World Health Organization reminding delegates -- national health ministries -- of their commitment to provide status reports every 3 years on their progress against IDD.  The WHA passed a resolution affirming the importance of micronutrient nutition, especially for children.

Sri Lanka elevates nutrition policy, cites iodine success

Sri Lanka earns kudos for prioritizing nutrition among its healthcare priorities, reports the Daily Mirror (Columbo).  "The most rewarding success in one aspect of micronutrient malnutrition is that the reduction of iodine deficiency disorders has progressed to elimination status."

ICCIDD Asia Pacific Region Dinner Symposium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, May 24

If you're in the (global) neighborhood, you'll want to attend the ICCIDD Asia Pacific Region's Dinner Symposium in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, May 24.  The symposium will feature:

• "Latest Iodine Research And Policy - A Global Perspective And Next Steps For Malaysia And Within The Region”  - by Professor Cres Eastman, Vice Chairman of ICCIDD & Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific Region.
   
• “Overview of Iodine Deficiency in Malaysia” - by a speaker from the Ministry of Health, Malaysia.

The Symposium is being conducted in conjunction with the Malaysian Endocrine & Metabolic Society annual meeting.

Tanzania documents progress against IDD

A new study demonstrates a marked improvement in iodine nutrition in Tanzania, twelve years after.salt iodization.  The study identifies two problems in sustaining IDD elimination in Tanzania:  to better reach the areas with low coverage of iodized salt, and to reduce iodine intake in areas where it is excessive. Particular attention is needed in improving salt producers' quality control.

Unfinished agenda: eliminating iodine deficiency in Thailand

Noting that "Iodine deficiency is considered the most important preventable cause of brain damage by the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Children's Fund and the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders," the Bangkok Post editorialized March 18 calling for renewed efforts in Thailand.

Secretariat for IDD Elimination formed in Egypt

As a result of the Round Table "Challenges Strategies and solutions to achieve sustained elimination of iodine deficiency disorder in Egypt” organized by ICCIDD and UNICEF in March 2009, to establish the national IDD secretariat, the Government announced the reaction of a Secretariat housed in the National Nutrition Institute to coordinate all activities relating to achievement of USI and to achieve sustained Elimination of IDD. UNICEF has agreed to finance the costs for its first year.

Nepal, India have agreed to extend India's aid program for its neighbor's salt iodization program, Telegraph Nepal has reported.  According to 2006 data, though more than 95% of households are using salt with some iodine and 60% of the households are using adequately iodized salt. The main bottlenecks for the attainment of the USI goal in Nepal are general preference for loose crystal salt and some inflow of inadequately iodized salt across Nepal-India borders in informal trade. The crystal salt is consumed still by about 42% of households.

Hetzel awarded prestigious Pollin Prize for "Pioneering research in iodine deficiency"

Basil S. Hetzel, AC, MD, FRCP, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Adelaide, Australia and the first/founding Executive Director of ICCIDD, has been honored to receive the 2009 Pollin Prize. The award ceremony was held in New York City this week. Joining Basil to celebrate the award were all four of ICCIDD's chairmen (founder John Stanbury, Basil, Jack Ling and current chair Jerry Burrow) and both surviving executive directors (Basil and current executive director David Haxton).

Fiji pushes for iodized salt

Fiji faces continuing challenges in overcoming IDD.  Here's the latest news, from the Fiji Times Online, of efforts to stimulate use of iodized salt.

Malnutrition costs Malawi nearly a half billion dollars annually

Mental retardation and stunting are two prominent results of the "silent crisis" of malnutrition in Malawi which imposes a $446 million burden on that Southeast African country, according to the Ministry of Health Nutrition as reported in The Daily Times.

Focus on pockets of IDD in Thailand

Jot ASEAN asks "Where in Thailand does iodine deficiency persist?  And why?"  Even in countries with commendable progress, wiping out areas of persistent IDD is a worthy endeavor.

ICCIDD completes UAE iodine survey

Results of an ICCIDD survey of iodine nutrition in the United Arab Emirates has been completed and the final report is being prepared.  Thanks to Izzeldin Hussein, Feroudin Azizi, David Haxton, Pieter Jooste and Gregory Gerasimov (the ICCIDD team) and the UAE national team.

May IDD Newsletter features ICCIDD Declaration on Optimizing Iodine Nutrition

Articles on Cambodia, Nigeria, Pakistan and others are featured in the May 2009 IDD Newsletter, just posted.  The issue also features an ICCIDD Declaration on the Importance and Safety of Optimizing Iodine Nutrition.

Hidden hunger in Guinea-Bissau: New York Times

Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Times "gets It' about micronutrient malnutition, including the need to fortify salt with iodine.  And he's doing a great job educating the American public as his "The Hidden Hunger" column today illustrates.  His choice of Guinea-Bissau, he makes clear, is a situation of vast extent.

Aussie bakers reminded of new requirement to use iodized salt

FSANZ has issued a new User Guide for bakers with suggestions on how to comply with new government regulations that require their use of iodized salt in bread no later than October 9, 2009.  With the User Guide comes a gentle reminder that the clock is running, reports Australian Food News.

American Thyroid Association annual meeting Sept 23-27

The American Thyroid Association will meet September 23-27 in Palm Beach, FL at the renowned Breakers Hotel on the Atlantic coast of Florida.  ICCIDD will provide a plenary lecture and symposium during the ATA meeting on Thursday, September 24 at 8:15 am.

Economic & Political Weekly features analysis of India's efforts to combat IDD

ICCIDD South Asia Regional Coordinator, Dr. Chandrakant S Pandav, and colleagues, have published an analysis of efforts to eliminate iodine deficiency in India and called for "an alternative approach and use a different set of agents to achieve universal salt iodization," in an article in the April 25 edition of Economic and Political Weekly.

Nigerians "war" on IDD.  See threat double that of HIV/AIDS

Would that public health education could always be this helpful!  The Gospel According To Okumephuna Chukwunwikezarramu carries an extended explanation of Nigera's "War against iodine deficiency disorder."

Ethiopian health minister touts USI

Ethiopia is on track to providing iodized salt to its entire 77 million population by 2010, health minister Dr. Theodros Adhanom said in March at a ceremony launching a new iodized salt facility, as reported by WaltaInfo.com.

China: Wise beyond her years

America's National Public Radio (NPR) ran a March 30 story about a Chinese college sophomore who returned to her home village, got herself elected mayor, and instituted an aggresive reform program including using iodized salt.

UAE wants to confirm IDD-free achievement

The United Arab Emirates is seeking confirmation that its salt iodization efforts have overcome IDD in that Gulf state, according to a story released by the Emirates News Agency.

February IDD Newsletter features Latin America, IQ impact

The February IDD Newsletter has been distributed and is posted on our website.  Articles focus on the challenges in Latin America and the impact of iodized salt in enhancing IQ of newborn infants.

Iodine Network Board meets, tours in India:  top target in combatting IDD

The ICCIDD is represented on the Board of The Network for the Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency and ICCIDD chair Jerry Burrow and executive director David Haxton were on hand in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India for the Network board meeting recently (other ICCIDD Board members also serve on the Network board).  This story from One World South Asia was among many reporting the priority of India in the international effort to overcome IDD.   The report continues:

Most US prenatal multivitamins lack iodine: NEJM study

Elizabeth Pearce of the Boston University Medical Center reports in the Feb. 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine that 51% of US prenatal multivitamins contain NO iodine.  This despite the fact that prenatal iodine nutrition is the key to avoiding IDD.

More resources to combat IDD in Congo

Noting that 13% of Congolese are iodine deficient, the European Commission announced Feb. 24 a grant of €6 million for nutrition programs in the country, ReliefWeb reports. 

Uganda's first lady touts iodized salt progress

Good nutrition is a key to improving the lives of Ugandans and informed citizens are the key to improving nutrition according to Uganda's first lady, Janet Museveni in an editorial column in Kampala's Daily Monitor.  She said she was "encouraged to note that in Uganda we now commonly consume iodized salt."

Angolan USI campaign gets a boost

Promoting universal salt iodization (USI) in Angola's central Huambo province got a boost, Agencia Angola Press reported Feb. 2, when its Salt Iodization Technical Commission announced stepped-up effort to promote public awareness of iodized salt, including demonstrations in schools.

Filipinos warned of IDD's threat to infants

ICCIDD board member Dr. Teofilo San Luis was the quoted expert in a story, "Iodine deficiency affects babies, says expert" airing today on Manila's ABS-CBN News urging pregnant women to consume adequate iodine to ensure their new babies have fully-developed brains.

Overcoming IDD: it's not just about goiter

It was about a quarter century ago that ICCIDD was founded to lead a re-orientation of public health response to the broad problem of iodine malnutrition.  The challenge:  to re-educate people that the real threat is impaired mental development, not the aethetics of visible goiter.  Progress has been made.  This story from a remote Indian village "gets it," saying IDD is " the single-largest preventable cause of mental retardation in the world."  That's the message!

Iranian women key impetus for public health, iodine nutrition

Media stories routinely explore cultural aspects of the role of women in Iranian society.  A recent Time Magazine story on "Tehran's Health Patrol," takes a deeper look at the contributions of a group of local women who are the key ingredient in advancing Tehran's public health agenda, including promoting salt iodization.

"Eradicate the 'next diabetes' -- thyroid disease" through USI

The Indian Thyroid Society has declared January "Think Thyroid Month" and plans to conduct more than 70,000 tests for thyroid disorders this month, according to a story this week in The Times of India.

Fiji launches iodine survey

Taking the first step towards eradicating its serious IDD problem, Fiji has announced it has conducted an iodine sufficiency survey and will use the results to recommend a remediation strategy, reports FifiVillage.com.

Don't beware these Greeks or their gift

Greek doctors from the University of Patras have announced 2009-2010 plans for their decade-long  humanitarian project to prevent Iodine deficiency and goiter in Azerbaijan, according to a report in Bsanna News.  In 2009-2010, they plan to create an endocrinological laboratory in Sheki, a city located 380 km northwest of the capital, Baku. The facility will be staffed by Azerbaijani doctors and biochemists trained  in Greece.

Phillipines broadens IDD message from goiter to brain health

The Philippines' 2009 anti-IDD campaign introduces brain health theme for the first time.  Filipinos have been getting IDD awareness education for some years, but it's all be goiter-focused -- until now.  The new poster promoting the January 17-23 Goiter Awareness Week (still an unfortunate title) bears the message "Isip at Talino ng anak nakasalalay sa Thyroid ni Nanay" which translates as "Brain & Intelligence of the baby is dependent on the Thyroid of the Mother."  Enlightenment begins with a single poster!

November IDD Newsletter features UNICEF, WHO progress reports

The new IDD Newsletter features reports from UNICEF and WHO as well as country reports from Cameroon, India, the US, Thailand, the Congo and China.

REQUIRED READING: Salt iodization: a "boring" way to add 1 billion IQ points to man's intelligence

Nicholas D. Kristof reviews the enormous paybacks of salt iodization in an op ed piece in today's New York Times, "Raising the World's I.Q."  He advises President-elect Obama to invest in salt iodization and other micronutrient fortification.

Nutrition still a dream in India; USI unenforced

A report in the December 2 issue of The Times of India finds malnutrition resisting community efforts.  Seventy percent of children surveyed were anemic and 40% undernourished.  With regard to iodized salt, the report elaborates:

The state government has banned the use of non-iodized salt since 1993. There is a centrally sponsored National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme in existence since 1989. But still, the state has not been able to control the iodine deficiency, which is cause for goitre, mental retardation etc.

"So far, 43 cases of violation of use of non-iodized salt have been registered in the state, of which one person has been penalized. A recent survey in some of the iodine-deficient districts like Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Chikmagalur shows a decline but it's still prevalent,'' added (a state public health official).

Clearly, there's work to be done!

Sri Lanka salt industry privatization sets stage for iodization progress

Columbo, Sri Lanka's Sunday Times has an informative review of the salt industry in that country showing how the privatization and modernization of the industry leads to progress in USI.

East African USI strategy reviewed, refined

ICCIDD executive director David Haxton has filed a report on a recent ICCIDD-sponsored workshop for 10 East African country USI teams in Arusha, Tanzania.  ICCIDD organiized the workshp in cooperation with UNICEF and ECSA (The East and Central African Ministers of Health Assocation). The meeting reviewed country situations and approved revised strategies to overcome current obstacles. 

Pakistanis attack IDD as "silent killer"

While "goitre is perhaps the only visible condition caused by iodine deficiency, others being lethargy, low level of physical energy and low intelligence"... (r)esearchers have demonstrated that school performance of children with proper iodine intake increases remarkably. Iodine is vital in supporting proper mental development of children. Its deficiency can cause irreversible mental retardation."� So reads a story in the October 24 issue of The News in Pakistan.

IDD among identified causes of miscarriages

About one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage and new research suggests a third of them could be the result of an overactive immune system, Dr Siobhan Quenby of Liverpool University concludes, as reported in The National in the United Arab Emirates.  Other major causes are age (women over 40 are much more likely to miscarry) and iodine deficiency.

Australia moved quickly to harmonize its requirement that bread-makers begin using iodized salt in their products on September 1, 2009.  The rule was published in the country's official Gazette on October 9.  Thus, both Australia and New Zealand will impose the new requirements on the same schedule.

Focus on IDD in Europe in new IDD Newsletter

Many find it surprising that IDD persists in Europe given the modern salt industry that services much of that market and the relative affluence of regional economies.  But persist it does as explained in the August 2008 issue of IDD Newsletter.

Total success in Mongolia

After a slow start in the early 1900's, the Land of Eternal Sky, Mongolia, has reached near total success in Universal Salt Iodication goals. Over 88% of all households in the landlocked Central Asian Country (See ICCIDD map) have access daily to adequately iodized salt.  This is a significant achievement considering the dispersion of the population with only one major urban center, vast expanses of prairie with nomadic peoples and small villages far from each other.  More.

"Steady progress" against IDD in Africa: WHO

WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, in a report to African health ministers gathered in Yaoundé, Cameroon, noted:  "Although no country in the Region has severe IDD, insufficient or excessive iodine intake nevertheless persists in many countries."   Sambo's recommendations mirror ICCIDD's:  stimulate advocacy to build political support by mobilizing multi-sectoral coalitions and "updating and enforcing existing legislation and policies on salt iodization," according to a report in Medical News Today.

Cameroon to host regional WHO meeting

The Regional Committee of WHO, comprised of all Member States of WHO in Africa, will meet in Yaounde, Cameroon. On the agenda is a range of priority issues for consideration among which the steady, but challenging, progress to achieve USI and eliminate IDD.  A major feature of the Meeting will be to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the landmark Alma Ata Conference on Primary Health Care using progress on IDD elimination as an example of PHC at work.  ICCIDD Regional Coordinator Dr. Daniel Lantum will attend and work with the delegates to improve reporting on progress as called for by the World Health Assembly Resolution requiring mandatory reporting on iodine nutrition nationally.

Rwanda grapples with micronutrient malnutrition, including iodine

In Rwanda, a country whose challenges continue to be daunting, there are hopeful signs of action to break the vicious cycle imposed by micronutrient malnutrition, allAfrica.com reports.

U.S. public warned about need for iodized salt

Often when discussing the need for iodized salt, the message is directed outside the developed world, leading Americans, Europeans and Australians, for example, to think IDD is someone else's problem.  A news study reported in Reuters gets it right: adequate iodine is a crucial concern to all women of childbearing age.

Ghana reaches 49% iodized salt access

A UN study of health indicators in Ghana found that 49% of Ghanaian households have access to iodized salt and 32% are actually using it, reports the Ghana News.

Australian Academy of Sciences committee advocates for iodized salt in bread mandate

A July 28 news release from the Australian Academy of Sciences reported that the ASA called on Australia's food industry to implement the new government mandate for use of iodized salt in bread.  The committee cited "growing concerns about iodine deficiency in women and children" in Australia.

Take time to add a comment?

Today's Wall Street Journal featured an article by Bjorn Lomberg on behalf of the Copenhagen Collaboration offering thoughts on "how to get the biggest bang for $10 billion."  The article invites readers to share their perspective.  Currently, the Copenhagen Collaboration ranks salt iodization as the third most cost effective public health.  Perhaps you want to join the discussion.

Invest in micronutrient/iodine nutrition to sustain growth: Nobel Prize economist

With governments pinched between high food prices and astronomical oil prices, 2004 Nobel Economics prize-winner Finn E. Kydland has vocally advocated shunning consumer subsidies in favor of investing in sustainable growth, particularly in directing resources to micronutrient nutrition including promoting iodized salt.  The International News (Karachi, Pakistan) has the story.

Pakistan's "national coalition" and UNICEF to partner on USI

TheNetwork for Consumer Protection and UNICEF have announced a joint campaign to promote universal salt iodization in Pakistan according to arabianbusiness.com.   The joint announcement emphasized the need for close cooperation between government, salt producers, consumers, development partners and civil society to address the public health challenge of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDDs).

Prospective mothers using iodized salt avoid maternal thyroid failure: new study

A new study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that "Prolonged iodized salt significantly improves maternal thyroid economy and reduces the risk of maternal thyroid insufficiency during gestation, probably because of a nearly restoring intrathyroidal iodine stores." 

American Geological Institute touts salt as "the ultimate medicinal vehicle" for IDD and infectious disease

Iodized salt features prominently in the June cover story in Geotimes, the magazine of the American Geologicial Institute as described in this Salt Institute blog.

Pakistani cabinet sends USI bill to Parliament

A story in the June 27 Post, reports that Pakistan's health minister Sherry Rehman has announced that the cabinet has approved and sent to Parliament for enactment a new law ensuring production, storage, sale and distribution of iodised salt in the country.

UNICEF report publicizes global progress against IDD

Thanks to a global campaign by UNICEF and its partners (ICCIDD was first-named), about 70% of households around the world are now receiving iodine through iodized salt, and 34 countries have universal salt iodization, according to a new UNICEF report, Sustainable Elimination of Iodine Deficiency, issued June 26.  As recently ago as two decades, only 20% of households were receiving sufficient levels of iodine. At the time, IDD was a public health problem affecting an estimated 2 billion people.

Oman enforces USI

Oman has ordered the well-known NIZO salt brand removed from commerce for its failure to follow salt iodization regulations, according to Al Shabiba Omani, the local newspaper.

Nigeria begins crackdown on bulk salt packages to promote USI

According to Vanguard.com and the Nigerian Tribune in Lagos, agents of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control have begun seizing illegally-large packages of salt - both iodized and plain.� New regulations require salt to be in bags 1 kg or smaller.

Survey shows continuing challenge in Ghana

A Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted in Ghana by the Statistical Service of Ghana and the Ghana Health Service has found disturbing, continuing problems in achieving USI, a story yesterday on allAfrica.com reported.

Australia renews ICCIDD assistance; enables work in 8 more countries

PR roll-out educates Aussies on IDD and USI

Expect to see stories like this from The Canberra Times as Australia moves towards implementing its decision to require use of iodized salt in bread.

Copenhagen Consensus rates salt iodization third most cost-effective public health intervention

Economists convened by the Copenhagen Consensus have ranked more than 40 public health interventions to help policy-makers determine where best to apply scarce resources.  Iodizing salt ranked #3.

May IDD Newsletter posted; features challenges in Russia

Read all about the challenges of bringing salt iodization to Russia...and lots more ... in the May issue of IDD Newsletter, now online.

Pakistan moves ahead on iodization

Refusing to be distracted by chronic political discord and the threat of radical terrorists, Pakistan's embattled government is launching a two-pronged attack on IDD.  The intitiative follows discussions between the government and ICCIDD.  Specifically

Nutritional challenges remain in Central Asia

Reuters features iodine deficiency among the nutritional problems challenging central Asian countries.  The article features an interview with UNICEF's Arnold Timmer.

Pandav editorial extols national coalition for Indian USI effort

Dr. Chandrakant S. Pandav, ICCIDD's Regional Coordinator for South Asia, with colleagues A. Somos-Krishnan, A. Chakrabarty and M.G. Karmarkar, are the authors of an editorial in the current (Jan-Mar 2008) edition of the Indian Journal of Public Health (password required) arguing for an effective national coalition to implement USI in India.

Eastman hits Australian limited salt iodization plan as "inadequate" and "half-baked"

The FSANZ plan to require iodized salt only in breads is "inadequate" according to ICCIDD vice-chair Dr. Cres Eastman.  Eastman told the Melbourne Herald Sun that the plan "half-baked."

Iodized salt advances in Central Asia

More than 100 participants from five Central Asian countries met in Turkmenistan to plan how to accelerate progress, according to both ReliefWeb and IRIN.

Publicity supporting iodized salt builds in Australia

ICCIDD regional coordinator and Board vice-chairman Dr. Cres Eastman is featured in this early story about the need to iodize salt in Australia.  FSANZ has proposed that Australian bakers, like those earlier mandated in New Zealand, should use iodized salt in bread, beginning in September 2009.

ICCIDD Gulf States Coordinator leads major international conference

With ICCIDD Gulf States coordinator Dr. Izzeldin Hussein in the chair as well as delivering a presentation on global progress towards universal salt iodization, scientists from America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia gathered in Oman March 8-10 for The International Conference on the Economic Importance of Sea Foods and their Impact on Public Health.

New Zealand: next phase--public education

The Times carries this story publicizing the recently-determined mandate to use iodized salt in bread.

FSANZ moves on iodization in Australia

Having just finalized FSANZ P230 to require iodized salt in most bread in New Zealand, FSANZ announced today it will shortly commence a 4-week consultation on P1003 to put the same measure in place in Australia.

Progress in India, but more than half still don't use iodized salt

The Hindu carried an IDD story Sunday noting that production targets for iodized salt have been reached, but 51% of the population is still not choosing to use iodized salt. 

Ethiopian iodine efforts devastated by war

Until its 1998-2000 war with seceeding Eritrea, Ethiopia relied on saltworks there and at least had hope of overcoming its widespread iodine deficiency.  No more.  Denied Eritrean salt, fully 80% of Ethiopia's population suffers from IDD as explained in this sad report.

FSANZ finalizes mandate of iodized salt use in New Zealand bread

As promised, the Food Standards Agency for Australia and New Zealand has issued its decision requiring that breads baked in New Zealand use iodized salt.� FSANZ will continue to deliberate on whether similar requirements should be imposed in Australia.

February IDD Newsletter features iodine in pregnancy and infancy

Enjoy the February issue of ICCIDD's IDD Newsletter featuring a review of "Reaching optimal iodine nutrition in pregnant and lactating woemn and young children."

African health ministers highlight importance of ending IDD

Meeting this week in the Seychelles, health ministers from eastern and southern Africa conducted a special session on iodine nutrition and agreed that iodine deficiency is "a serious by relatively unrecognized impediment ot human development in Africa," reports Africa Science News Service. 

Ghana designates salt a "strategic industry" and targets it for assistance

Ghana has announced steps to improve its salt industry, currently estimated to be producing only 250,000 tonnes, about 10% of its capacity.  ModernGhana.com attributes the situation to "inefficient production methods, obsolete machinery, lack of capital and industry data information and weak production infrastructure."

Joe Baidoo-Ansah (Minister for Trade, Industry, Private Sector Development and PSI) announced recently investments in the salt industry.� He "said the salt industry had been identified as one of the strategic industries in which the country had high growth potentials" and investments "would transform the Ghanaian salt industry into an internationally competitive one."

Iodized salt linked to improved child health in Indonesia

US researchers writing in the February issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that two-thirds of slum-dwelling Indonesians use iodized salt and that those using the iodine-fortified salt had significantly lower infant and child mortality rates and less incidence of stunting and under-weight development.

Basil Hetzel is a recipient of the 2007 Prince Mahidol Award for his pioneering work on IDD

Iodized cheese?

Kraft Foods announced today a new food with human-safe pesticides intended to eliminate intestinal worms in tropical countries with inadequate sanitation.  The New York Times story on the new food mentions how Kraft has also developed for sale in the Philippines iodine-fortified, Eden-brand cheese.

Lancet publishes special series on undernutrition

The weight on policy priority in public health nutrition in recent years has undervalued hunger and malnutrition in favor of attacking problems associated with dietary excess.  The global initiative against obesity and its consequences in terms of diabetes and heart disease is the most visible among them.

The Lancet aims to restore balance to the discussion with a special series in its January 19th issue with articles on maternal and child nutrition that should kept close at hand by all supporters of adequate iodine nutrition.  These articles (free but registration required) are available online, including discussions of 1) exposures and health consequences, 2) consequences for health and human capital, 3) what (intervention) works? 4) effective action at the national level and 5) why has it proven so difficult and what can be done to accelerate progress.

Hetzel prize reaps IDD PR

Basil Hetzel's prize boosted public discussion of the IDD problem.  This from Australia's national radio, ABC.

Nutrition an "economic imperative": World Bank

A new series of reports in The Lancet makes it clear that "over-nutrition" has not replaced the need to ensure adquate intakes of key nutrients in the diets of those in the developing world.  The Voice of America reports that iodizing salt returns $28 in health benefits for every dollar spent.

What a difference 25 years -- and Iodized Salt -- can make!

George McBean visited Nepal in 1982 with an UNICEF team documenting the widespread prevalence of goiters, the most visible manifestation of IDD.  He returned recently and found a much different situation.

Hetzel gets prize this week

The King of Thailand will be awarding the prestigious Prince Mahidol prize this week (Jan 30) to three internationally-distinguished physicians for their lifetimes of dedicated service to improving health.� Among the three:� ICCIDD co-founder and longtime chairman Basil Hetzel of Australia.� Basil's work has inspired a renewed commitment to iodizing salt around the world, protecting millions against mental retardation caused by IDD.

American Thyroid Association issues call for proposals for research grants

The American Thyroid Association has issued a call for proposals.  ATA is funding research into better ways of diagnosing and treating throid diseases.  Deadline:  January 31.

IDD: Not just a problem in remote mountainous areas

Long explained as a product of diets dependent on local foods produced from iodine-leached soils in remote mountain areas, Iodine Deficiency Disorders remain a prime health threat in urban slums, a story today from India reminds us.  Nearly 24% of slum-dwelling children in Bhubaneswar had IDD, according to a new report in the Indian Journal of Paediatrics.

Iodized salt key to success in Kashmir

Noted endocrinologist and Director SK Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, Dr A H Zargar has publicly credited the large scale consumption of iodized salt in Kashmir as one of the reasons of the decrease in occurrence of Iodine Deficiency Disorders.

UN focuses on iodization progress, challenges

Under the banner "A Triumph in the Making,"  U.N. delegates at the UNGASS II meeting held at UN headquarters, December 10-12 reviewed progress on their commitments to children.  Get details.

Good monitoring in Vietnam identifies needy areas

India's small producers pitch in to combat IDD

Collaborative efforts between local producers with small holdings, civil authority and groups, State Government and international agencies like MI, UNICEF, WFP and ICCIDD are aimed at increasing production of iodized salt by the small producers of Rajasthan, India, and results are beginning to show modest progress, reports One World South Asia.

ICCIDD's Hetzel wins Thai lifetime achievement award

Former Chair, Executive Director and Founder of ICCIDD recognized for life achievements on iodine nutrition and protection of brain development by prestigious Mahidol Foundation in Thailand, The Nation (Bangkok) reported November 28th.

Partnership spurs anti-IDD effort in Sri Lanka

The national effort to achieve USI and to eliminate IDD in a sustained fashion is a demonstration of public, private, civic and scientific bodies working together toward the national nutrition goal.  All reports indicate an achievement of significance for the future of the people of Sri Lanka.  The Government of Sri Lanka has stated its willingness to have a neutral international assessment of the progress to date.

The World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean Region has bestowed the 2007 Kuwait Foundation Prize on Professor Fereidoun Azizi for his work combatting diabetes.  Dr. Azizi directs the Endocrine Research Centre at Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Iran and is ICCIDD's Regional Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.  Congratulations!

Vietnam illustrates value of monitoring

The disappointing news reported by WHO in Vietnam seems to indicate that access to iodized salt has been declinging in some areas.  That dissapointing report, however, masks some good news. The situation was revealed by the accurate monitoring system in place by the Government of Vietnam.

More from the front lines in Nigeria

If actual progress on the ground is as consistent as news reports, Nigeria's success is assured.

Tanzania study shows broad access to iodized salt

A study by VD Assey, et al.in the October issue of Public Health Nutrition found 83% of surveyed households in iodine-deficient areas are using iodized salt and 94% of shops offering iodized salt for sale.  Overall, goiter rates have declined in these challenged districts from 65.4% of the population to 24.3%.

Nigeria advances on the home front

With her "missionary work" of promoting USI in Ukraine complete, director-general Dr. Dora Akunyili of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has turned her attention to ensuring the sustainability of her country's USI program.  Continue to read the AllAfrica.com report.

Laos records progress

Sometimes it's not the statistics that catch public interest and create awareness. This recent item on New Mandala describes progress combatting IDD in Laos.

Ghana takes aim at IDD

Led by Jacob Armah, head of the nutrition unit of the Ghana Health Service, a new multi-stakeholder coalition is forming to combat iodine deficiency as part of a national education reform initiative.  Armah told ModernGhana.com that about 81,200 babies are born annually with mental impairments as a result of such deficiencies, and suffer from stunted growth and low Intelligence Quotients (IQs), thereby impeding their learning abilities when they grow up.

Mr Armah, expressed these concerns, at a stakeholders’ seminar to “devise strategies for achieving universal salt iodation in Ghana” at Elmina.

On October 29-30, about 100 nutrition experts will be meeting in Kazakhstan in the Third Almaty Forum on Food Fortification, brought together by the Asian Development Bank, Turkish Weekly reports.  ADB has led a 6-country assault on iodine deficiency and inadequate dietary iron, investing $8.8 million (US) since 2001 in projects in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

A public health triumph in the making

Meeting this week for its 78th annual meeting, the American Thyroid Association organized a special symposium on iodine deficiency to honor the late Dr. Francois Delange, former executive director of ICCIDD.  The symposium was chaired by ICCIDD chair Jerry Burrow.   UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Kul Gautam delivered a stirring charge to delegates.

Nigeria's salt iodization:? model for Ukraine

At the invitation of UNICEF/Ukraine Professor Dora Akunyili, Director-General of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC),?shared her experience in achieving universal salt iodization in her country with a multi-stakeholder group in Ukraine.

Pakistani voices in rising demand for action against IDD

A public appeal in Karachi's The News September 28 illustates a rising chorus of popular awareness about the ravages of IDD and a demand that the government require universal salt iodization.

Bhutan's IDD success a model for other micronutrient efforts

Having achieved universal salt iodization in 2003, Bhutan is moving on to eradicate iron deficiency anemia -- using the momentum of its success overcoming IDD.  The assessment was posted September 28.

Gates voices value of iodized salt, public health progress

"Some lifesaving solutions can be extremely simple—iodized salt to prevent stunted growth, for example, or oral rehydration solutions to fight diarrhea," writes Microsoft founder and global humanitarian Bill Gates in this week's Newsweek.  Gates reported great progress in providing tools and facilities to promote global health.

Salt iodization in Pakistan skyrockets

In the past year, salt iodizaiton in Pakistan has jumped from 17% to 67%, spurred by a national coalition led by the UN World Food Programme, UNICEF, the Micronutrient Initiative and the Ministry of Health.  Pakistan has been a particularly difficult situation and this progress is gratifying. Read more in the Daily Times.

The September issue of Hot Thyroidology has several important articles worth reading:

1. Eduardo Pretel & Geraldo Medeiros-Neto "The Past, Present and Future Status of Iodine Nutrition in Latin America"
2. Creswell Eastman and Mu Li, "Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) in the Asia Pacific Region"
3. Peter Laurberg et al, "How do we optimize iodine intake to minimize the occurence of thyroid disorders in Europe?"
4. Angela M. Leung and Elizabeth N. Pearce, "Iodine nutrition in North America"
5. Michael Derwahl, "Thyroid nodules and nodular goitre: A stem cell disease?" and from the August issue:
6. Bernard Rees Smith, et al, "The TSH receptor -- a new crystal structure"

Gates Foundation to provide iodized salt in flood-ravaged Nepal and Bangladesh

Monsoon rains have produced devastating floods in Nepal and Bangladesh depriving tens of thousands of children and their parents the basic necessities of life, including iodized salt.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has provided a half-million dollar grant to Save the Children for humanitarian assistance including provision of iodized salt.

August IDD Newsletter reports continuing progress in the global campaign against IDD through successful national efforts in Ukraine, Italy, Equatorial Guinea, Mongolia, Cameroon, Indonesia, China, Australia and New Zealand. 

Malnutrition kills nearly 6 million children a year

Malnutrition continues to be one of the most serious problems in the developing world, reports the Voice of America. VOA said a new report from the Population Reference Bureau (PRB) says malnutrition plays a role in the deaths of almost six million children each year, a large number of these deaths preventable through low-cost, highly effective, well-known interventions, such as fortifying foods with iodized salt.

Dispatch from the front in northwest Pakistan

While newspaper headlines concerning northwest Pakistan usually focus on the area as a sanctuary for Al Quaeda jihadists, a Reuters story describes the other battle raging in the area -- the campaign to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders, particularly among Pakistani children in the North West Frontier Province.

ICCIDD Board members join in recognizing China's salt iodization progress

ICCIDD chairman Jerry Burrow, executive director David Haxton and Board members Jack Ling, Chen Zupei and Dick Hanneman, gathered together in Beijing for the Board meeting of The Network for the Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency, participated in a half-day celebratory meeting sponsored by China's Ministry of Health recognizing the enormous -- and continuing -- advances China has made in overcoming IDD.� The meeting drew media attention to the role of iodizing salt for public health.

Challenges remain in reaching remote provinces in western China and in some areas of the coast where small local salt farmers feed non-iodized salt into the consumer marketplace.

This Spring, a national Health Week nutrition education and awareness program educated 6 million Uzbeki schoolchildren in 10,000 schools in that country.  Iodizing salt was prominent in the program and in the news coverage.

The World Health Assembly in Geneva has just approved -- unanimously -- a resolution offered by Peru that directs national health departments to report the status of their efforts to promote universal salt iodization (USI) every three years. ICCIDD urged delegates to approve the resolution.

One province in Northwest China is turning to subsidizing consumer purchases of iodized salt as a new means of eliminating IDD.

Uzbekistan moved a step closer to an effective salt iodization program, observers agree. 

Welcome to ICCIDD's new website.

The Network for the Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiencies has a new chairman, executive director and address.