Addressing Iodine Deficiency - World Food Programme 2009

Malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies affect millions of poverty-stricken people around the world. Iodine deficiency is the greatest single cause of mental retardation and brain damage as it prevents the brain from developing properly. However it has been found to be easily preventable simply by adding iodine to salt. Worldwide 1.9 billion people are at risk of this deficiency and an estimated 780 million people are affected around the globe. CIDA's contribution is supporting the World Food Programme (WFP) to help increase the production of adequately iodized salt by approximately 600 000 metric tonnes per year thus contributing to addressing the iodine deficiency of at least 130 million of the poorest and hardest-to-reach people in the world. The project's main strategies focus on building the capacity of small producers in the salt industry for production quality assurance and marketing; establishing a time-bound provision of potassium iodate as an incentive to establish a commercial procurement and supply chain; and strengthening the capacity of governments to monitor the production and quality of iodized salt.