Pakistan:
50 million Pakistanis suffer from iodine deficiency, and it is severely affecting children in northwest Pakistan. Iodine is essential for healthy thyroid function, and iodine deficiency can cause developmental delays, and is the leading cause of mental retardation/learning disability. Iodine deficiency in pregnant woman, may cause infants to be born with with severe mental and neurological impairment, and increases the risk of still births and infant deaths. Other affects of iodine deficiency can be, growth failure, speech and hearing defects. In many countries iodized salt, or the addition of iodine to other foodstuffs, like flour, has resolved the problem. However the campaign for iodized salts has been hindered by many misnomers and fears, as “Some patients refused to use the widely available iodized salt because they were convinced it would reduce fertility."
China:
As a the world has a watchful eye on China, and parents in the US and Europe debate the value of children's toys, the spotlight once again falls on Chinese toy factories. A U.S.-based workers’ rights Group finds China toy factory conditions “brutal”, finding labor violations at eight Chinese plants that make toys for big multinationals, and called on the companies to take steps for better standards.
NIGERIA:
Polio down 80 percent with remaining cases blamed on borders , giving more hope that the eradication of polio from the world will come in the not so distant future. As Nigeria has been the most been most endemic country in the world, however coordination with bordering countries continues to remains a weak.
