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Iodine deficiency plagues Xinjiang, Tibet

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-05-20 19:13

BEIJING,  - About 100 million people suffer from iodine deficiency in China, primarily in the remote and ethnically distinct regions of Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang, despite an iodised salt programme begun in 1995, the Xinhua news agency said on May 20.

The government of Xinjiang plans to spend about 20 million yuan ($2.61 million) a year to subsidise 4.5 million people with 5 yuan apiece to buy iodine-enriched salt from the market instead of non-iodized product hawked by illegal dealers, Xinhua said, citing Kuresh Mahsut, vice chairman of the region.

About a third of Xinjiang's counties have not yet eliminated iodine deficiency and related diseases, it said. They include goitre, a swelling of the neck resulting from enlargement of the thyroid gland, learning disabilities and miscarriages.

About 600,000 to one million newborns, of the 20 million born in China every year, suffer from iodine deficiency, Xinhua said.

As China's cities and coastal areas experience breakneck economic growth, rural areas and the far western regions of the country are falling increasingly behind in healthcare and education.

Central government policies to develop the west and create a "new socialist countryside" are an attempt to address that gap before it breeds destabilising social unrest.

Xinjiang is home to the Muslim Uighurs and other groups, while Tibet and Qinghai are inhabited by ethnic Tibetans and Muslim Hui. ($1 = 7.666 yuan)