Iodine Deficiency Disorder

Thailand

Vitamin A

Vietnam

Iodine

Iron

	EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA


Goiter
Most Recent Goiter Survey		National IDD survey
	Date:	June - August, 2000.
	Groups Surveyed:	School children 8 - 10 yrs. old in 7 ecological regions
	Sample Size:	10,425
	Sampling Method:	50 subjects per cluster x 30 clusters per region x 7 regions. Goiter was assessed by palpation and ultrasound.
	Estimated Goiter Prevalence:

Urinary Iodine

Most Recent Urinary Iodine Survey - Same as goiter survey

Estimated IDD Prevalence:

TSH - Has not been measured

	POLICY AND LEGISLATION

Legislation on IDD
	IDD legislation in Vietnam was passed in 1980 for universal iodized salt distribution.
	Iodization of salt is mandatory.

Government Agency to Address IDD
	National program on IDD. It's function is coordination, funding and monitoring.
	Contact information: Not reported

Supplementation
	Oral supplementation with iodized oil capsules is not currently used. It was used from 1984 to 1995, however.

Fortification
Production and Importation of Salt
	There is no production of iodized salt.
	The salt is imported from Roche Vitamin. The intended level of iodization was not reported.
	Quality control is done by the Steering Committee. In 2000, the 47.5% of salt producers achieved the target iodine level in imported salt, however, this level was not reported. 52,303 salt samples from 70 producers was selected to analyze the iodine content following production.


Retail
	The average retail cost of salt is US$0.85 to 1.50 per kg. depending on the region of the country.


Household Consumption
	The estimated consumption of salt is 4 kg per capita per year for the mountainous regions, and 2.5 kg per capita per year in the delta areas.
	The estimated percent of adequately iodized salt consumed by all people is 77.6%.*

	* Source: Activity report of IDD program, 2000.

Iodized Salt Surveys

In 2000, producers, retail and households were surveyed.

Survey Results

Survey Level (producer/ retail/ household)	Date of Survey	Geographic area/ other grouping	Sample size	Sampling Method	% of samples from 35 - 45 ppm	% of samples with > 30 ppm	Average and/or Range of Iodine Content
Household	2000	National	27450	15 HH's x 30 communes x 61 provinces	81.9% (>20ppm)
Retail	2000	National	256	206 local stock		73.1 %
Producer	2000	National	238	4-5 x's per producer	47.5 %		35 - 45 ppm

(Note: good iodized salt levels at household is >20ppm, at Retail is> 30ppm, and at producers is from 35-45ppm.)

Other Programs Related to Control of IDD
Mass Media Campaigns
	Film and video cassettes about control activities to prevent IDD are distributed to the health center network. There is also a project on the central television.
Community-Based Programs
	There is training of local staff about IDD.

	MONITORING

Salt Iodine
Current monitoring activities for iodine levels in salt
	First each producer must check and guarantee their quality control. Second, the national program committee periodically checks the salt iodine levels at the producer, retail and household levels.
	The surveys described above are being repeated.
	Monitoring at the community level is done with UNICEF field test kits.

IDD Indicators
	Lab facilities are available at academic and research institutions, e.g. Medical Research Council (MRC) and the South African Institute of Medical Research.
	There will be monitoring of the goiter rate via repeating the afore-mentioned surveys. This depends on the availability of funds from the government and NGO's.


Donor and Implementing Agencies Involved in IDD Programs
	CEMUBAC (Belgium), Australia, UNICEF, WHO are external groups involved in IDD programs. External funds are provided from UNICEF and Australia.
	The National IDD project receives US$ 1,000,000 per year from the Vietnamese government.

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA