WHO: 50 million children affected by iodine deficiency in 2001

May 22, 2002

Geneva, May 22 (EFE) - Some 50 million children in 2001 were born with mental and physical delays from iodine deficiency, according to a World Health Organization report.

Mental retardation, caused by brain injuries during fetal development, is the most serious result of iodine deficiency and is a response to the mother's hypothyroidism, which also results from the same deficiency.

In extreme cases, the disorder can cause cretinism, a thyroid deficiency presenting mental and physical deformities, but usually the disorder limits physical and mental function, the WHO report noted Tuesday.

The IQ of iodine-deficicient individuals can drop between 10 and 15 points compared to people without the problem.

The disorder can be prevented by consuming a sufficient amount of iodine, which is essential for normal brain development, WHO nutrition experts Bruno de Benbois and Graeme Clugston said.

The worldwide effort to eliminate the disorder began in 1983, when Basil Hetzel published an article in Lancet, where he coined the description "Iodine Deficiency Disorder."

The article identified the need for iodine for normal brain development and noted that millions of children worldwide were deficient, arousing public awareness.

In 1990, the World Summit for Children and the Wolrd Health Assembly focused on the goal of eliminating the disorder by 2000.

Since then, the number of countries with iodized salt programs rose from 46 to 93, and currently, two-thirds of families have access to salt in areas where the disorder is endemic.

The WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, three bilateral financial agencies, the International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorder (ICCIDD), the salt industry and several non-governmental organizations participated in the efforts.

The ICCIDD is made up of a network of researchers, epidemiologists and experts in public health and salt, who work with the governments at the national level to implement iodized salt programs.

Basil Hetzel, the first executive director of the council, said in the WHO report that the biggest problem concerns making the advancements permanent.

In many countries, such as Columbia and Guatemala, political conflicts hindered the program's progress, and in the former Soviet Union, where the deficiency had disappeared, the problem has resurged from lack of vigilance.

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