Around 2.2 million children are born each year with mental disorders in Pakistan due to iodine deficiency in pregnant women.

Addressing the media workshop on iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), organised by The Network for Consumer Protection in collaboration with the UNICEF, health experts said that iodine deficiency in children leads to mental retardation, loss of cognitive abilities, still birth, miscarriage and birth of children with congenital abnormalities.

They suggested a three-pronged strategy to address IDD in Pakistan including legislation for universal salt iodization, supply-side interventions, and demand creation activities. Iodine deficiency is a public health problem in Pakistan where 50 per cent of the population is at risk, and almost half of all newborns in Pakistan are mentally weak due to iodine deficiency in mothers.