You're reading: Iodine deficiency problem remains unsolved in Ukraine

Oksana Yanchenko is just 39, but she will have to take medications for the rest of her life because of a problem that can be prevented by consuming a pinch of iodized salt per day. 

Yanchenko
had to have her thyroid gland removed six years ago because of iodine
deficiency disorder, which eventually turned into a dysfunction of the thyroid.
Her five-year medical treatment was not a success, and eventually surgery remained
the only choice.

Nearly
37 million of people in Ukraine are believed to be in the group of risk for
iodine deficiency – a truly staggering number.

“Unfortunately,
Ukraine is one of the countries with the lowest level of iodized salt
consumption in the world in line with Haiti, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Sudan,
Pakistan and Russia,” says Yukie Mokuo, UNICEF Ukraine representative.

Globally,
more than 2 billion people, or 30 percent of humanity, live in areas with low
iodine content according to the World Health Organization.

“[This
disease] appeared unexpectedly. Nobody in my family had such problems,”
Yanchenko says. “Unfortunately, it was too late to treat when doctors came up
with the right diagnosis.”

The
problem is relatively easy to solve, but the right laws are needed. This
February,  Iryna Gorina, a member of the
pro-presidential Party of Regions,  and
opposition lawmaker Ruslan Kniazevych attempted to provide the solution by
filing amendments to the law “On safety and quality of food products.”

They
wanted to make the use of iodized salt compulsory in the food industry, as well
as at kindergartens, hospitals and public eateries, and make supermarkets stock
at least half of its salt with the addition of iodine.

The
amendments will be debated on the health committee in September, and hopefully
will make it to the session hall afterwards.

“The
consumption of iodized salt is the easiest way to prevent iodine deficiency
disorders at large, and Ukrainian children will only win if the optimal iodine
nutrition is ensured for them and their families,” explains Mokuo.

According
to the Global Iodine Nutrition Scorecard, about 382,000 infants (80 percent of
newborns in Ukraine) are born every year with the risk of iodine deficiency
disorders.

“Iodine
is essential for human intellect, immune system and development. The most
commonly known sign of iodine disorder is goiter, but it can also lead to
cretinism, the most serious form of mental retardation,” says Dmytro Kvitka, a
Kyiv surgeon who for eight years has been diagnosing and treating thyroid
conditions.

Some
estimates suggest that the nation loses $43 million due to low productivity as
a result of iodine deficiency in the population. According to UNICEF, the
obligatory salt iodization program can help the state recoup up to $36.8
million of this loss.

Similar
government programs are running in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Bulgaria
where all of the salt available in supermarkets and used in the food industry
is supposed to be iodized.

But
some Ukrainian doctors say there is risks involved in default iodization.

“There
are people who are allergic to iodine,” explains Kvitka.  “It will be enough just to increase the
availability of iodized salt, especially in endemic territories such as Western
Ukraine,” he says.

The
Soviet Health Ministry actually had a salt iodization program in high risk
areas in Ukraine, but it collapsed after the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.
Attempts to renew the program in 2006-2007 failed in parliament as deputies
claimed there was not enough scientific evidence to back it.

Kyiv
Post staff writer Anastasia Forina can be reached at [email protected]