Worldwide Progress
in eliminating iodine deficiency

Because nearly all cultures include salt in their diet, iodizing salt has been found to be the most effective, inexpensive, and non-invasive way of distributing iodine worldwide. Iodine has been routinely added to commercially produced salt in the industrialized world since the 1920s.  

In 1990, less than 20 percent of people at risk of iodine deficiency had access to iodized salt.  Today, as a result of the USI strategy to improve people's iodine intake, more than 90 million newborns are protected each year from significant losses in learning ability. More than 90 percent of the populations in 27 developing countries use adequately iodized salt. 

The highest levels of salt iodization have been achieved by Latin America and the Caribbean at 84 percent and by East Asia and the Pacific at 80 percent.  The figure for the Middle East and North Africa is 70 percent, closely followed by Sub-Saharan Africa at 68 percent. South Asia lags behind at 55 percent.  The lowest levels are found in Central and Eastern Europe/Commonwealth of Independent States, where only 39 percent of households consume iodized salt. Since the break-up of the former Soviet Union, iodine deficiency has resurfaced in many countries in this region, where salt was once adequately iodized.  Kiwanis International will support monitoring  and salt testing to ensure that once progress is made, it is sustained.  

World leaders meeting at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in May 2002 - among them leaders of the Kiwanis family - agreed on a goal of achieving the sustainable elimination of iodine deficiency disorders by 2005. The actions of every Kiwanian are integral to the world leaders' vision of a world without iodine deficiency, where no child is born unprotected. Today's twin challenges are to introduce salt iodization in all communities where it is not yet available, and to ensure that people continue to use iodized salt where it is already available.  

Reaching the final 30 percent of people without access to iodized salt, many of whom live in rural areas, presents a particular challenge, in part due to the fact that in rural areas of the developing world, many families use naturally occurring salt. This natural salt, which does not contain iodine, can be harvested off the ground or from seawater in many areas of the world.  In these communities, defeating iodine deficiency means convincing families to purchase iodized salt instead of gathering it from their surroundings, as well as making sure that the salt available in their stores and markets contain iodine.  

Legend
Red <50%
Green 50-89%
Yellow >90%
Gray - no data