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MICRONUTRIENT INITIATIVE
About
MI
Iodine
Stability
of iodine in salt
Salt: Life Depends on it. That is the message of the international
meeting of salt producers in the Hague, The Netherlands in May
2000 -- officially known as Salt 2000 -- that will bring together
leading salt industry representatives from around the world. The
symposium will discuss a wide range of scientific, operational
and health-related issues in salt production.
The MI,UNICEF, PAMM and ICCIDD, along with the
Salt 2000 organizing committee, have agreed to take the lead in
highlighting the global success of salt iodization and the important
role that the salt industry has played in this effort. To this
effect, three main activities will occur:
Technical support and abstracts: MI and PAMM
will coordinate the collection and presentation of abstracts on
key issues, trends and experiences in salt iodization worldwide
-- including salt production, processing,packaging, distribution
and consumption.
Run-up meetings in the regions: Currently planned
or upcoming meetings on salt or IDD will be used as run-up meetings
to provide input and experiences from Asia, Africa, Latin America
and Europe to the final Salt 2000 meeting.
Advocacy and communications: MI and UNICEF will
produce educational materials and help in the development of key
IDD-related messages. Specific materials to be produced over the
next year are: a multi-media "State of the World's IDD" report,
a video featuring global leaders speaking on IDD elimination,
and media and educational kits. Carol Bellamy, Executive Director
of UNICEF, will deliver the opening remarks at Salt 2000.
Expanding
and Strengthening Programs
Stability
of iodine in salt
Under contract with the MI, the University of Toronto
conducted studies to determine the stability of iodine in salt
under various environmental, packaging and storage conditions.
The results have formed the basis for recent WHO/UNICEF/ICCIDD
recommendations on iodine levels in salt. The study has also recommended
appropriate packaging to ensure iodine retention under adverse
environmental conditions. The findings and recommendations of
the stability study are now published in two separate papers in
the Food and Nutrition Bulletin (1998).
Quality assurance, monitoring and enforcement
for salt iodization programs
MI provided support to PAMM to organize a Regional Workshop on
Quality Assurance, Monitoring and Enforcement of Iodization Programs
in Malawi for 15 Sub-Saharan African countries in March 1998.
Participants included representatives from a wide range of sectors
including the salt industry, government ministries, standards
bureaus and medical experts. The workshop reaffirmed the importance
of multi-sectoral cooperation to ensure successful quality assurance
for IDD programs and the need for communications, legislation,
and regulation to ensure compliance. It stressed the importance
of assistance to countries and especially salt producers to produce
iodized salt to agreed upon standards and ensure that only salt
meeting these standards are consumed by the entire population
of African countries. Other critical needs identified were in
building human capacity, information sharing among countries and
establishment of reference laboratories.
Rapid
test kits for iodized salt
MI in collaboration with PATH Canada, and the University of Toronto
has developed new rapid test kits for the field detection of iodine
in salt. The work involved the optimization of chemical test systems
that are appropriate for testing iodized salt in the field. Separate
kits have been developed for iodide and iodate. Furthermore, countries
will be supplied with the instructions to make them locally. The
developed kits have been validated in India and Ecuador and the
kits will be modified based on the suggestions received. The next
steps are to package the kits in a form ready for field use and
disseminate information for in-country production of the kits.
Iodized
Salt Program Assessment Tool (ISPAT)
The MI, PAMM and ICCIDD in collaboration with USAID, UNICEF and
WHO have produced this manual to assist government and national
program managers to undertake a systematic assessment of their
iodization salt programs to ensure program effectivesness and
sustainability. The manual will be available shorty.
Global
directory of supplement and premix suppliers
The MI has prepared a catalogue of major manufacturers of micronutrient
premixes used in the fortification of foods, supplements and in
large, medium and small scale processing facilities. To compile
this list, a questionnaire was prepared and widely distributed
to over 700 companies and posted on the MI web-site. Copies of
the directory are now available. The directory is also accessible
through MI's Internet site.
Double
fortification of salt
The fortification of salt with iron as well as iodine is a strategy
for overcoming both iron and iodine deficiencies that has been
under development for the past few years, as a potentially efficacious
and cost effective intervention. With support from the MI, a technology
has been developed at the University of Toronto for the preparation
of a salt fortified with iron and iodine in which dextrin encapsulates
the iodine and prevents it from interacting with moisture and
the iron.(A separate Activity Highlight has been prepared to describe
the success of this project.)
Procurement
of Supplements and Premixes
The MI has been assisting agencies such as World Food Program
in the procurement of vitamin A and iron supplements and fortification
premixes. In this process the MI has gathered information on product
specification used by various agencies, potential suppliers and
their products lines, standards which these classes of products
must meet and product price information.
Water
iodination
A review of the effectiveness and application of water iodination
in different country settings was carried out by ICCIDD in collaboration
with WHO, and funding from the MI. Water iodination as a means
to overcome iodine deficiency disorders may be an important technology
for those areas unreachable by way of universal salt iodization.
However, there is some question as to cost and sustainability.
The review focuses on issues related to program operations and
implementation. A report is now available.
Simplified
method for monitoring urinary iodine
Technology developments to enhance efforts toward the virtual
elimination of micronutrient deficiencies including iodine deficiency
disorders (IDD) is one of the key focus areas of work in the MI.
Although major progress has been made toward universal salt iodization
in many countries, the tools for monitoring the impact of salt
iodization remain a weak point in most country programs. Urinary
iodine is well accepted as the indicator of choice for monitoring
the iodine status of populations, yet the current method is somewhat
noxious, requires importation of certain reagents and a spectrophotometer.
A faster method would be time and cost effective. The MI has supported
ICCIDD to develop a simplified method for assessing urinary iodine
at the field level. The semi-quantitative method is based on the
standard reduction technique but uses a color indicator rather
than a spectrophotometer, and is performed in batches with comparison
to standards rather than by assay and recording of individual
samples. These and other modifications will lead to a safer, cheaper,
faster and more field-applicable assessment of a populations iodine
status. The results of this study will be available by mid-September
1999.
Communicating the Message
and Sharing the Knowledge
Russian and French Translation
The MI supported the translation of the Monitoring of Universal
Salt Iodization Programmes (1995) and Salt Iodization for the
Elimination of Iodine Deficiency (1995) manuals into Russian.
Copies are available through the ICCIDD Office for East Europe
and Central Asia. The French versions of the manuals as well as
the Spanish version of "Monitoring Universal Salt Iodization
Programs" are being translated and printed with the support
of the Dutch government by the International Agricultural Centre
(IAC) and will be available shortly.
Micronutrient learning materials
Work is ongoing to produce computer-assisted interactive learning
materials on micronutrient malnutrition aimed at students in undergraduate-level
programs in the medical, health and nutrition sciences. The MI
has contracted McMaster University in Canada to produce modules
on iodine deficiency disorders, iron deficiency, and vitamin A
deficiency. Working with partners in developing countries (Mahidol
University, St. Johnís medical College in Bangalore, and the All-India
institute of medical Sciences in New Delhi) the vitamin A module
will soon will ready for field-testing. The modules will be available
on CDROM and is expected to be ready for distribution to academic
institutions in late-1999.
Ending Iodine Deficiency, Now
and Forever: A Communication Guide (1997).
The MI has supported publication of this communication guide which
describes the process of forming alliances with various elements
of society having a role in eliminating IDD. The guide also recommends
the social mobilization approach to manage the communication aspects
of programs that aim to establish and sustain the use of iodized
salt. Copies of this document written by Jack C.S. Ling and Cynthia
Reader-Wilstein of ICCIDD are now available in English. MI has
recently agreed to fund translation of the guide
into Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese Russian and Spanish.
It is expected that these language versions will be ready mid-
1999.5
Source: http://www.micronutrient.org/highlights/iodine.shtml
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