This page is background information, last updated in May 2002 and still available for reference. For the latest on the Special Session on Children, please go to the Special Session index.

A Smart Start for Children

The launch of the Network for the Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency

Conference Room 4, United Nations, 10:00 to 11:30 a.m., 8 May 2002.

The Network for the Sustained Elimination of Iodine Deficiency, a unique and historic partnership of international organizations, scientific and technical groups, the salt industry and civil society, was launched at a side event of the United Nations Special Session on Children. Network members present at the meeting pledged to work together to ensure that no child ever again will be born with loss of learning ability due to iodine deficiency. Iodine deficiency, which is prevalent in many parts of the world because of lack of iodine in the soil, can be solved by iodizing salt - something that industrialized countries have done since the early part of the 20th century.

Heads of State, government ministers, salt industry leaders, and celebrities including Goodwill Ambassador Roger Moore, addressed the audience of more than 300. A highlight of the meeting was the announcement that chess champion Anatoly Karpov will become a Goodwill Ambassador on iodine deficiency for his region - Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltics.