Iodine Global Network (IGN)

Iodine in the global news

16. June 2021

Bangladesh parliament passes new legislation on salt iodization

Under the proposed law, a 14-member national salt committee - with the industries secretary as its chairman - will be formed to oversee the nation’s production, processing, refining, storage, transportation and marketing of salt, use of iodine in salt,...

15. February 2021

Journal of Nutrition supplement released

The Double-Fortified Salt (Iodized Salt with Iron) Consultation: A Process for Developing Evidence-Based Consideration for Countries The success of salt iodization as a public health intervention has led to the exploration of its potential to carry...

03. February 2021

Iodine Salt Bill placed in the Parliament

Industries Minister Nurul Mazid Mahmud Humayun placed the bill in the House with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair, reports BSS

21. December 2020

Taking the ego out of philanthropy

A funder explains why IGN is one of just two organizations her foundation will support this year.

03. December 2020

New IGN Policy Brief for IDD/USI in Eastern and Southern Africa

The brief outlines the importance of iodine nutrition and identifies key challenges to sustaining USI

18. November 2020

Did health status in your country improve after fortification implementation?

New fortification visualizations are available for salt, maize flour, oil, rice, salt and wheat flour on the Global Fortification Data Exchange site.

04. November 2020

Universal Salt Iodisation: Lessons learned from Cambodia for ensuring programme sustainability

For the upcoming Micronutrient Forum, IGN contributed to a series of articles in the journal Maternal and Child Nutrition on malnutrition in Southeast Asia and the Pacific commissioned by UNICEF.

08. October 2020

COVID-19 is making it harder for vulnerable people to access healthy food

At every life stage, micronutrients are crucial to immune system function and resilience to infectious disease. This brief makes the case for large scale staple food fortification as a critically important tool to fight malnutrition in general, and even...

10. July 2020

Benefit and risk assessment of iodization of household salt and salt used in bread and bakery products

Opinion of the Panel on Nutrition, Dietetic Products, Novel Food and Allergy of the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment. Report from the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food and Environment (VKM)

11. June 2020

Estimating the Health and Economic Benefits of Universal Salt Iodization Programs to correct Iodine Deficiency Disorders

There has been tremendous progress over the past twenty-five years to control iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) through universal salt iodization (USI). In 2019, using the median urinary iodine concentration (MUIC), only 19 countries in the world are...

10. June 2020

Household Coverage with Adequately Iodized Salt and Iodine Status of Nonpregnant and Pregnant Women in Uzbekistan

Globally, iodine deficiency has been drastically reduced since the introduction of salt iodization programs; nonetheless, many populations remain at-risk for iodine deficiency. This study aimed to assess the iodine status among women of reproductive age...

09. June 2020

Evaluation of Iodine Nutritional Status Among Pregnant Women in China

Remarkable achievements have been made for over two decades by implementing a universal salt iodization policy in China. However, changes in the standards and manufacturing of iodized salt have made it necessary to regularly monitor iodine intake and...

05. May 2020

Updated Iodine Fact Sheet for Health Professionals from the US National Institute of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements

Introduction Iodine is a trace element that is naturally present in some foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement. Iodine is an essential component of the thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). Thyroid ...

22. April 2020

Stable Iodine Nutrition During Two Decades of Continuous Universal Salt Iodisation in Sri Lanka

Universal salt iodisation (USI) was introduced in Sri Lanka in 1995. Since then, four national iodine surveys have assessed the iodine nutrition status of the population. We retrospectively reviewed median urine iodine concentration (mUIC) and goitre...

03. March 2020

Q&A: USAID's first chief nutritionist plans to 'demystify' the sector

Shawn Baker is the U.S. Agency for International Development’s first chief nutritionist, a role he told Devex he is particularly excited to take on in 2020 — a critical year for the global nutrition agenda. Formerly the director for nutrition at the...

02. March 2020

The Unfinished Agenda for Food Fortification in Low and Middle-Income Countries: Quantifying Progress, Gaps and Potential Opportunities

Large-scale food fortification (LSFF) is a cost-effective intervention that is widely implemented, but there is scope to further increase its potential. To identify gaps and opportunities, we first accessed the Global Fortification Data Exchange (GFDx) ...

17. February 2020

Farewell to the God of Plague: Estimating the effects of China's Universal Salt Iodization on educational outcomes

This paper estimates the effects of China's Universal Salt Iodization (USI) policy in 1994 – the largest nutrition intervention policy in human history – on children's later-life educational outcomes. Using population census data combined with county...

08. January 2020

Report on the 2019 Consultation on Sustainable Prevention and Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders in Eastern and Southern Africa

Report written by Prof. Festo P. Kavishe, IGN Regional Coordinator for Eastern and Southern Africa, Dr. Isiye Ndombi, IGN Consultant, Carol Tom, IGN Consultant, John Maina Mwai, Food Fortification Manager, MOH-Kenya; and Prof. Jonathan Gorstein, IGN...

09. December 2019

Optimal Assessment and Quantification of Iodine Nutrition in Pregnancy and Lactation: Laboratory and Clinical Methods, Controversies and Future Directions

Abstract: Iodine intake must be boosted during pregnancy to meet the demands for increased production and placental transfer of thyroid hormone essential for optimal foetal development. Failure to meet this challenge results in irreversible brain damage,...

28. November 2019

Push to increase the supply and availability of iodized salt in the UK

A joint initiative of British Salt, British Thyroid Foundation, UK Iodine Group and the Iodine Global Network.

25 pages