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The International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders is a non-profit, non-government organization for the sustainable elimination of iodine deficiency and the promotion of optimal iodine nutrition worldwide.

 
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Nigeria's salt iodization: model for Ukraine
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Nigeria has been recognized as the first African country to achieve universal salt iodization.

And the good news is spreading fast. UNICEF/Ukraine invited Professor Dora Akunyili, Director-General of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), to share her experience and strategies with top health policy makers, parliamentarians, academics and captains of industry in the former Soviet Republic.

On October 9, Akunyili described the key factors for Nigeria's success as political commitment, multi-sectoral collaboration between NAFDAC, UNICEF, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Micro-nutrient Initiative, Salt Manufacturers, media and other stakeholders.

Nigeria has recorded 98% household access to adequately iodized salt since 1998 and reduced the incidence of goiter from 20% in 1993 to 6% this year.

Akunyili in Ukraine

Read this special report by ICCIDD Sub-regional co-ordinator Ludmila Ivanova of UNICEF/Ukraine:

‘If Nigeria defeated the iodine deficiency, Ukraine also can do it if there is a strong political will’. This was the key message of the impressive presentation of Prof. Dora Akuniyili, Director General of Food and Drug Administration in Nigeria, delivered at the Round table on the Ethical Aspects of the Prevention of Iodine Deficiency Disorders in the frame of Third National Congress of Bioethics in Kiev, Ukraine, 10 October 2007. The main objective of the round table organised by the Academy of Medical Sciences and supported by UNICEF was to create high level consensus on the strategy for the sustainable elimination of iodine deficiency disorders in Ukraine and to support adopting universal salt iodization.

Iodine deficiency disorders remain a national health problem in Ukraine nationwide. Every year 80 per cent of newborns are unprotected from iodine deficiency and are at risk of irreversible mental and cognitive damage and a reduction of their IQ potential. The results of a national survey conducted in 2002 by CDC Atlanta, the Academy of Medical Sciences and Ministry of Health and supported by UNICEF, clearly demonstrated the existence of iodine deficiency nationwide. Results from small scale studies conducted during the period of the last government National Programme to eliminate iodine deficiency for 2002-2005, confirms that low iodine intake exists not only in the western part of the country (recognised as ‘endemic’) but also in central and western Ukraine and in the Chernobyl affected regions in northern Ukraine.
National representative survey on consumption of iodised salt (MICS, 2005) showed that only some 30 per cent of the population of Ukraine consume iodised salt while only 17 percent of all salt samples are adequately iodised. This demonstrates that there is no efficient prevention of iodine deficiency in Ukraine, nor is there a state food control system that protects consumers’ rights regarding the food safety, including the consumption of standard iodised salt.
Persisting iodine deficiency in Ukraine results in considerable adverse consequences for both the population and the economy. A cost benefit analysis conducted by UNICEF in conjunction with the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Ministry of health and salt producers in May 2006, indicates that some 320,000 children with impaired intellectual capacity - resulting in depressed school and work performance - will be born to iodine deficient women over the next 10 years. Based on national economic statistics, IDD will result in an estimated loss of nearly US$330 million to Ukraine’s economy over the next decade, equivalent to 54 million workdays. On the other hand, the added cost to consumers of iodising salt is anticipated to be about US$0.01 per person per year. The cost of salt iodisation over the next five years, if universal salt iodisation is adopted, is estimated at US$2.4 million and this will prevent the entire population of Ukraine from iodine deficiency. At current rates, some US$400 million would be spent on iodine tablets for children and pregnant women alone.
Ukraine has all necessary conditions to implement universal salt iodisation (USI) as the country is the main salt producer in the CEE/CIS Regions and a good developed network of State Sanitary Stations for quality control of iodised salt. The only missing in Ukraine is understanding and awareness about the consequences of iodine deficiency on the country economics and development and a strong political commitment to resolve the problem on the most efficient and cost-effective way.

To share the successful story of IDD elimination in Nigeria to the round table was invited Prof. Dora Akuniyili from Nigeria. Nigeria is the first African country certified as IDD free in 2005. The mandatory iodisation law was adopted in Nigeria in 1993 and today 98 per cent of the population consumes iodised salt. The world recognised advocate for elimination of iodine deficiency Prof. Akuniyili stressed that this success became real only because a strong

government's political commitment, multi-sectoral collaboration between NAFDAC, UNICEF, Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), Micro-nutrient Initiative, Salt Manufacturers, media and other stakeholders.
What is still missing in Ukraine to be successful in IDD elimination was the main issue discussed during the round table chaired by the Deputy Minister of Family Youth and Sport Mrs. Svetlana Tolstouhova. Only the adoption of national legislation can ensure implementation of the strategy of USI that will contribute significantly to the good mental and physical health of all children in Ukraine was the final conclusion of the round table. The final statement in support of universal iodisation provided to the new Cabinet of Ministers will be the outcome of the conference.

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