WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANTE
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC BUREAU REGIONAL DU PACIFIQUE OCCIDENTAL
REGIONAL COMMITTEE Sixtieth session Manila, Philippines 21-25 September 2009 Agenda item 7
WPRlRC60INGO/3
22 September 2009 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
STATEMENT BY THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR CONTROL OF IODINE DEFICIENCY DISORDERS (ICCIDD) By T.O.L. San Luis, Jr., MD, MPA Director and Country Representative to the Philippines Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) represent a wide range of serious adverse effects resulting from the deficiency of a vital micronutrient: iodine. The most well-known of these disorders are visible goiter and cretinism, a condition characterized by severe brain damage occurring in very early life. There are other adverse yet pervasive consequences occurring in apparently normal children in iodine deficient areas which include poor school performance, reduced intellectual ability and impaired work capacity 1. When these mentally-challenged children grow up, they constitute a nation's workforce with reduced overall productivity. All because of the deficiency of iodine whose lifetime requirement for a human being amounts to only a teaspoon. The WHO Western Pacific Region comprises 37 Member States of - pardon the expression - giants and pygmies: from a nation of 1.5 billion people to an atoll of a few thousand inhabitants, each with its own particular intereMs and priorities. Faced with mounting problems of downspil:aling world economy, pandemics, and global warming among others - all of which threaten to submerge Member States figuratively and literally - it comes as no surprise that a deficiency in some micronutrients is one of their least concerns, not realizing that national productivity by a healthy population can be a key factor for survival in these turbulent times. How many Member States have data on their iodine status? To date, in the general population of the Western Pacific Region, there are still some 365 million people with insufficient iodine intake. They represent 24% of the total inhabitants of this Region2 • Every year, in this Region, there are 4.5 million babies are born still unprotected against IDD, representing 12% of all babies born annually. Staggering as the numbers may seem, these 365 million inhabitants and these 4.5 million babies may just be a fraction of the truly affected since there are 17 Member States in the WPRO which have no data whatsoever. Sadly but truly, of all the 6 WHO regions throughout the world, the Western Pacific Region has the highest number of Member States with no reported data. No data in terms of legislation on salt iodization, no national plan of action for IDD, no coordinating body, no data on
WHO/WPRO General Information; <http://www.wpro.intihealth_topics/micronutirnet_Deficiencies> WHOlProportion of general population with insufficient iodine intake; <http://www. who.intlvmnisliodine/status/summary/iodine_data_status> 3 SOWC 2007 (database 1998-2005) 1
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median urinary iodine levels nor number of population at risk ofIDD4. It all boils down to this: we are not doing what we should be doing. We are not fulfilling what we have been mandated to do, not because there are no standards. guidelines and methodologies to follow - because there are; and not because we have no tools to employ nor expertise to deploy - because we have. And what we should be doing is to see to it that our people have universal access to iodized salt, a spectacularly simple, universally effective, wildly attractive and incredibly cheap technical weapon against IDD5. In 2005, the World Health Assembly adopted Resolution WHA58.24 mandating a global report on the IDD situation every 3 years. What will the Western Pacific Region report to the next WHA" To be sure, there are success stories in the fight against IDD: the number of countries where iodine deficiency is a public health problem has been halved over the past decade: Member States have rising rates of household iodized salt utilization nearing the target of 90% (even after some years of delay), with China setting the pace; partnerships and national coalitions have been established among concerned sectors and international agencies in a number of countries to help set-up and sustain permanent national salt iodization programmes. But Member States will have to allocate more resources, to commit a more determined political will and to spend energy with a little bit more passion in seeing to it that goals are achieved, targets are reached, and no backsliding tolerated. Only then can we see our concerted efforts finally eliminating this underpublicized yet devastating disorder. Only then can we realize that this thing called IDD is no child's play of the alphabet. ICCIDD urges the Member States in the Region to do the right thing at the right time. And the right time is now.
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WHO/Degree of public health significance of iodine nutrition; <http://www.who.intivrnnis/iodineistatus/summary/iodine data status> 5 WHOlMicronutriem deficiencies; <http://www.who.intlnutritior1ltopics/iddlenlindex.html>
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