HEALTH COACH - How a tsunami in Japan threatens children in Cambodia

HEALTH COACH - 
 How a tsunami in Japan threatens children in Cambodia  

 Cambodia was making great progress in the face of iodine deficiency until 2011, according to a report published in 2015 by the World Iodine Network, a public-private partnership to combat impairment. 
 
 Like many countries with regular floods, Cambodia soil has little natural iodine, so its crops contain as little. In 1997, according to Unicef, nearly one-fifth of its population had goiters - thyroid glands swollen at the neck that indicate severe impairment, which can also cause nannism and cretinism. 
 
 In 1999, with the help of donors, Cambodia began to iodin table salt. In 2003, Parliament and the King made it mandatory. Dozens of small producers in the provinces of Kampot and Kep who have made salt by evaporation of sea water have formed a cooperative that has received potassium-iodate sprayers. 
 
 From 2000 to 2011, the use of iodized salt increased by 70% compared to 13% Households, according to a 2015 study in Nutrients magazine. Market sampling in 2008 found only 1% salt without detectable iodine. 
 
 But then, things began to collapse. 
 
 In 2010, UNICEF and other donors handed over responsibility for iodization to the government and salt producers. The application has increased and the spraying machines that have burst have not been repaired, according to a recent article by VOA News 
 
 Then in 2011, after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the overall price of iodine has tripled. The price increase has had several causes, said Roland Kupka, a micronutrient expert from Unicef. 
 
 Global iodine stocks were already low due to the 2008 recession. One third of the world iodine is produced by Japanese natural gas drillers, which extract them from brine Pumped from coastal wells. 
 
 The disaster damaged the wells, put refineries on fire and greatly reduced power generation. In addition to the problem, the release of radioactive iodine from the Fukushima nuclear reactor caused panic buying of potassium iodide protective pills, especially in western United States. Prices quickly reached 50 times their normal levels. 
 
 
 
 Prices of raw iodine remained high for two years, forcing Indian companies that manufacture potassium iodate to plead for aid from donors. Iodine is also used in X-ray machines, LCD screens and pharmaceuticals. The iodized salt represented only a small market share, so that producers could not match other offers from buyers. 
 
 The global effort of iodization "may be threatened unless action is taken," said a 2011 report for Unicef. 
 
 High prices have also caused havoc on the salt industry of Cambodia. Vietnam's non-ionized salt was half expensive, so it was smuggled in. The salt for the Kampot cooperative was sold without iodination. 


 In 2014, scientists from the UNICEF Ministry and Cambodia examined 1,862 salt samples purchased from dozens of markets. 
 By 2014, some wholesalers who had to test salt before repackaging it for retailers have stopped doing so. They found that only 1 percent of coarse salt and 23 percent of fine salt met government standards. 
 
 But the monthly reports of the salt cooperative said that more than 90% of its samples had done so. "We may be skeptical about the legitimacy of internal control," the UNICEF report said. 
 
 A rapid test of 2,300 schoolchildren showed that iodine concentrations in urine had decreased by 30% since 2011 and that the problem "threatens the sustainability of the program" authors. 
 
 Unicef ​​urges the government to enforce its own laws and make better tests, said Dr. Kupka, and the Kampot cooperative has set up a fund to buy iodate from Potassium in bulk. 
 
 There is still time to save children from permanent damage, said Jonathan Gorstein, executive director of the World Iodine Network. 
 
 "The thyroid is a fairly effective gland for storing iodine," he said, so he may take five to ten years of deficiency before the goiters and return Of brain damage 
 
 This is what happened in Ethiopia, he said. Until 2000, the nation bought naturally iodized salt from Eritrea, but the fighting between the two countries cut off the trade and Ethiopia began to exploit its salt pans, Had no iodine. 
 
 After about eight years, "a generation of newborns without protection against mental retardation are born," Gorstein said. 
 
 In 2011, Ethiopia addressed the problem. With the help of donors, he got spraying machines and began to apply the iodization standards on the industry. Now, 80 percent of its households use iodized salt. 
 
 "What we really want to avoid," said Dr. Gorstein, "is this model in which success leads to a return." 
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