Kiwanis changing world one nation at a time

There are no Kiwanis clubs in Mauritania, Chad, and Liberia. But there and in other nations of the world, Kiwanis still makes a difference.

UNICEF recently submitted a series of reports detailing how Kiwanis funds have been used to assist countries with their salt-iodization (USI) programs. The documents show an optimistic trend toward universal salt iodization in most of the nations, but challenges remain. Following are comments quoted from the UNICEF reports.

•  Mauritania—“Thanks to the generous contribution of Kiwanis International, the project was able to fight tooth and nail and advocate the adoption, by the Mauritanian government, of a legal framework regulating the production and marketing of the salt, while setting up strategic partnerships warranting the iodization of all the salt actually produced and commercialized in Mauritania.”

•  Chad—“The activities financed with these funds contributed to the objective of USI and the elimination of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) in Chad. In addition to training health workers and establishing monitoring systems, the activities included ‘youth caravans’ to disseminate information on the local level.

•  Lao PDR—“This (National Program for Elimination of IDD) … has become one of the major success stories for improving public health in the Lao PDR.” Under-nutrition, including Vitamin A and iron deficiencies, is believed a major cause of the nation’s high infant and child mortality, but UNICEF reports that Lao could eliminate IDD by 2006 and become the second nation in Southeast Asia to achieve USI.

•  The Gambia—“A delegation headed by the vice-president of The Gambia attended a UNICEF-sponsored West African Forum on USI in Dakar, Senegal, in October 2004. As a result, The Gambia has renewed its commitment to achieving USI by 2005. …” Gambian officials have initiated talks with Senegal officials about salt-iodization legislation in the neighboring nation.

•  Timor-Leste—“Almost all of the 13 districts in this new republic have a total goiter rate above 5 percent, a level considered by the World Health Organization to indicate a public health problem.” After assessments by UNICEF and government agencies, a strategy was developed to form a community salt-production cooperative at Lake Laga, where staff will be trained to iodize salt. Other salt plants will be rehabilitated.

•  Liberia—“Thirty health workers … were trained as core trainers on the prevention and control of IDD. … The core trainers have trained 500 health workers in their counties, who in turn conducted information and education in communities. This benefited about 66,500 persons, of which 75 percent were women.” Activities were hindered in 2002 and 2003 by widespread armed conflict.

•  Mozambique—“The Ministry of Health in Mozambique estimated … in early 2004 that iodine deficiency levels are around 30 percent nationwide, though the results of the first national survey (supported, in part, by Kiwanis funds) carried out in late 2004 … will provide the first representative and accurate prevalence data.”

•  Vietnam—“National IDD Control Day is celebrated each year on November 2. This year (2004), the celebration took place in the southern province of Vinh Long, one of the provinces with a low household use of iodized salt (56 percent). Both the Ministry of Health and UNICEF expected the event to create momentum and the presence of high-ranking government officials to help raise the awareness of the population and decision-makers about the importance of iodized salt.”

•  Tajikistan—“Despite government efforts toward USI, including the Law on Salt Iodization and Elaboration of National IDD Programme, there are still gaps in effective monitoring of iodized salt at production and marketing levels. … Key constraints to USI include poor marketing and monitoring, high price differentiation between iodized and noniodized salt, and low consumer education.”