The fight to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders is plagued by challenges in some western and central areas in China, a senior official said yesterday.

Wang Longde, vice-minister of health, said at a meeting on eliminating iodine deficiency in Beijing yesterday that seven provinces in western and central China had not succeeded in rooting out the condition.

Cases of mental retardation caused by iodine deficiency were identified last year in areas where consumption of iodized salt remains low, Wang said.

An estimated 130 million Chinese are still at risk of iodine deficiency, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Dr Yin Yin Nwe, the UNICEF representative in China, said at the meeting: "Although China's achievements in raising levels of consumption of iodized salt are outstanding, many people here are still consuming unionized salt."

Some communities cannot afford the slightly higher cost of refined, packaged iodized salt, or prefer traditional salt produced locally, according to UNICEF.

Experts who attended the meeting discussed alternative ways to give these communities access to adequate sources of iodine.

Proposed measures include subsidies to reduce the cost of packaged iodized salt, strategies to iodize locally produced traditional salt or the interim use of iodized oil capsules.

Iodine deficiency is a health issue wherever natural sources of dietary iodine are lacking. The condition affects 740 million people in 130 countries.

Iodine is critical for normal growth and development. Insufficient intake during pregnancy and early childhood can result in reduced intelligence in children, or a form of mental retardation known as cretinism.

Iodine deficiency commonly causes swelling of the thyroid gland at the front of the neck, known as a goiter.

An effective solution to iodine deficiency is universal iodization of salt for domestic consumption.

China is a global leader in the introduction of universal salt iodization, raising the household coverage of iodized salt from around 40 percent in 1995 to the target of 90 percent in 2005.

The Network for Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency, an alliance of major organizations to assist countries in reaching sustained elimination of iodine deficiency disorder, presented plaques at the meeting to the Ministry of Health, the National Development and Reform Commission and the China National Salt Industry Corporation for their roles in promoting salt iodization within China and abroad.

(China Daily 07/31/2007 page3)