The Iodine Blog March 2023 The WHO Executive Board Session discusses the proposed WHA resolution Over 50 global nutrition and health organizations have worked together to support the resolution “Accelerating efforts ...

The Iodine Blog December 2022 As the year draws to a close, we at IGN would like to thank our partners, donors, and all of those who helped to sustain and improve iodine nutrition in 2022. We end the year with some ...

Giving Tuesday Blog November 2022 At this time of the year, we at IGN reflect on how lucky we are to have your support for our work of promoting and sustaining adequate iodine nutrition. We’re also grateful because, in...

Blog for World Iodine Deficiency Prevention Day, October 21The blog for World Iodine Deficiency Prevention Day comes to us all the way from the Maras district, Urubamba, in the Cusco region of Peru, where Maras salt, the...

October 2022 Woman with goiter in Frienisberg, 1921. Picture: Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of Bern, archive (Coll. Lenggenhager, BDR 165) One of two big anniversaries for salt iodization is...

September 2022 Salt collection in Phetchaburi, Thailand In May 2017, partners in the global effort to eliminate iodine deficiency, including WHO, IGN, GAIN, ETH and the Effective Altruism movement in Geneva, took part in an...

July 2022 Spreading the word about iodine nutrition and distributing iodine capsules in remote areas of Papua New Guinea. Salt is an ideal vehicle for fortification because it’s almost universally consumed. But it...

June 2022The news last month that the World Bank would provide an additional US12 billion for new projects to promote global resilience in response to the ongoing food security crisis made a lot of sense to IGN. Our...

April 2022 300 meters below the surface in the salt mine in Donetsk, Ukraine The news this week about the potential global malnutrition impacts of war in Ukraine, together with the climate crisis we already face and the...

March 2022 Here’s something about iodine nutrition we hoped we would never need to tell you At IGN, we focus on the importance of protecting children’s developing brains by ensuring adequate iodine status,...

February 2022 Photo credit: UNICEF The public health success of the global effort to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders, protecting the brains of hundreds of millions of children around the world, has been a unique...

January 2022 Most people consume 9 12g (about 2 teaspoons) of salt per day. That’s more than twice the daily intake recommended by the World Health Organization. Reducing salt in the diet can help reduce blood p...

November 2021 In a small school, children in Laos have brought their household salt samples to test for iodine content. This helps raise awareness of the problem and the importance of using iodized salt. Photo credit: UNICEF...

November 2021 One of the most important parts of the work we do at IGN is to keep track of whether people around the world have adequate iodine in their diets. We do this in a couple of ways. We continually monitor the use ...

October 2021 Today is Global IDD Prevention Day, celebrated each year to raise awareness of the problem of iodine deficiency and its effect on children’s brain development, their school performance, and earning...

August 2021 The fight to protect children’s brains by adding iodine to household salt has been a global public health success story. This success has led many to believe that the job of iodizing salt has been dealt ...

June 2021 Estimates suggest that up to 50% of infants in Europe are at risk of being iodine deficient. The role of Regional Coordinator is crucial to IGN’s work. Nowhere is that more true than in Europe, which...

March 2021 The work of making sure that salt is iodized forever is continuous, and while face to face meetings are off limits in most countries, virtual progress is uplifting. Last month, IGN, together with UNICEF, developed...

March 2021 We are pleased to announce the appointment of Amal Tucker Brown as our new Regional Coordinator for West and Central Africa. Amal is a public health nutritionist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical...

March 2021 The success of salt iodization as a public health intervention has led to the exploration of its potential to carry additional nutrients to address critical vitamin and mineral deficiencies, in particular iron. A...

March 2021 We would like to thank the Giselle Foundation for joining the list of IGN supporters, and to acknowledge the contributions of all of our donors. Special thanks to a young Canadian donor who told us: “I'm an...

January 2021 We hope you’ll spread the word and join us tomorrow, Wednesday, 27 January from 14.00 – 15.30 CET for a #FutureFortified webinar, “Reaching the Most Vulnerable with Fortified Foods.” It...

December 2020 As 2020 winds to a close, all of us at IGN send Season's Greetings and wish you the very best for 2021. We thank you for your support and hope you are all safe, happy and well. We'd like to share these...

October 2020 There are many ways in which production of salt can be adversely impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic, from disruptions in availability of supplies needed to process it, to the labour needed to manufacture and...

October 2020 After a career of some 53 years, IGN’s Regional Coordinator for Western and Central Europe will give up all of his many activities in thyroid and iodine at the end of 2020. In addition to his work with I...

October 2020 Welcome to our new board members, Dr. Mary L'Abbé, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto; Penjani Mkambula, Global Program Lead for Food Fortification at the Global Alliance for Improved...

October 2020 IGN was one of a number of contributors to an important brief on food fortification and COVID 19 issued in September. The brief recommends that actions to strengthen fortification programs be prioritized as part...

October 2020 WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has praised The Lancet's GBD study as a great example of collaboration to improve people's health and lives. The Lancet argues that health is created from a...

August 2020 IGN and its partners believe in a world where people have access to nutritious food, including the iodine in their diet that allows children to reach their full cognitive potential. The profound health and...

August 2020 This month, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization released its 2020 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. The report’s major focus was on the need to transform food systems for...

August 2020 Gregory working an IDD assessment in Turkmenistan in 1994. Gregory Gerasimov began his career as an endocrinologist in Moscow, where he was awarded an MD, PhD and Doctor of Medical science at Moscow Medical...

May 2020 Dr. Izzeldin Sharief Hussein, Regional Coordinator in the Middle East and North AfricaA Global Public Health Practitioner with a medical background, Dr. Izzeldin Sharief Hussein is currently the Regional Coordinator...

May 2020 By Karen Codling During this unprecedented COVID 19 crisis, representatives from several international non governmental organizations (NGOs) and UNICEF working on food fortification in the Asia region highlighted...

How to improve iodine intakes in communities that don’t have salt. May 2020 By Karen Codling and Victor Temple For all that has been achieved in the fight against iodine deficiency around the world, there still exist...

May 2020 Mr. Wilfred K.M. Kimiri has been a champion for salt iodization in Kenya for nearly 20 years. Starting at Kensalt as an accountant in 1999, and eventually becoming General Manager, Mr. Kimiri developed an interest ...

May 2020 Beginning in November 2019, IGN has hosted seven webinars on the “UNICEF Guidance on the Monitoring of Salt Iodization Programmes and Determination of Population Iodine Status.” The purpose of the...

March 2020 Located in the Himalayan Mountain range, where iodine deficiency has long been endemic, Nepal was one of the first countries in the South Asia to recognize the magnitude of the problem and develop a comprehensive...

March, 2020 Mexico has a long history in combating iodine deficiency in its population, dating back to the 1940s. Although there were initial efforts to establish salt iodization activities over the subsequent decades to...

March, 2020 In November 2019, UNICEF, in partnership with IGN, NI, WHO and GAIN and with the support of the Kenyan Government, jointly supported a regional consultation on the sustainable prevention and control of iodine...

March 2020 Dr. Festo Kavishe, Regional Coordinator for Eastern & Southern AfricaHow long have you been with IGN, and what is your role? I have been with IGN for three years, since 2017, as Regional Coordinator for Eastern...

December, 2019 IGN: Dr. Pandav, why do you feel so passionately about Universal Salt Iodization? CP: Iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) constitute the single largest cause of preventable brain damage worldwide. The...

October, 2019 The Asia Oceania Thyroid Association urges universal salt iodization across the region, a potent advocacy tool to prevent birth defects due to iodine deficiency. The Asia Oceania Thyroid Association has...

July, 2019 by Elizabeth Pearce In the first trimester, and at least three months prior to conception, pregnant women should consume 150 µg of iodine a day. Pregnant women with healthy iodine nutrition during the first...

July, 2019 Hidden hunger – the common term for vitamin and mineral deficiency – can be an insidious form of malnutrition because it is less visible than other forms, such as wasting. And yet, not only does this...

May, 2019 by Marie Claude Désilets, Minoru Irie, Festo Kavishe and Isiye Ndombi Through strategic partnership, we can protect newborns from Madagascar from preventable brain damage due to iodine deficiency. In Morondava,...

February, 2019 Data visualization tool identifies opportunities to reach 2 billion affected by hidden hunger.ATLANTA, Ga.; GENEVA; SEATTLE, Wash.; WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 28, 2019 – Two thirds of all countries mandate...

February, 2019 by Gregory Gerasimov After years of intensive public health campaigning, a proposed bill would address iodine deficiency. In what would be a victory decades in the making, Russian lawmakers may enact a...

February, 2019 It is #SaltAwarenessWeek 2019! With the popularity of sea salt and other culinary salt on the rise, let’s dispel some myths.Sea salt and specialty culinary salts, such as Pink Himalayan Salt, are...

January, 2019 by Jonathan Gorstein (IGN), Felix Brooks Church (Sanku PHC), Laura Rowe (FFI), and Penjani Mkambula (GAIN) Working in close collaboration, our organizations are tackling the problem of hidden hunger. We are...