A ten year review of the iodine deficiency disorders program of the People's Republic of China.

This paper reviews the Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) Elimination Program of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Over 700 million people live in iodine deficient regions of China and the social and economic consequences of IDD are profound. National and international organisations have supported China's advocacy, social mobilisation and health education programs. Many countries affected by IDD have benefited from discoveries emerging from China's aggressive and effective multisectoral approach to this massive public health problem. The challenge of the next decade is to sustain the momentum through the use of cost-effective monitoring and quality improvement strategies, particularly, in those regions in which a large proportion of babies continue to be at risk of brain damage due to iodine deficiency. This paper sets China's IDD Program in an international context by reference to the literature and through consultation with public health experts.