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In the country of Georgia, formerly part of the Soviet Union, more than 4,000 children and many pregnant women in the city of Kutaisi (pronounced koo-TIE-see) have been diagnosed with advance thyroid disease. |
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This disease, which is most noted by the presence of goiter, can cause mental retardation and immune and metabolic disorders. A pinch of iodized salt each day - something in our kitchen cabinets that we take for granted - could prevent health problems that threaten the children who are the future of this new democracy.
In 2000 Georgian Senator Dodo Shelia, M.D., of our sister city conducted a study of 42 Kutaisi schools. She documented that 54 percent of the children had advanced thyroid disease, and all were at risk of developing iodine deficiency disease. |
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She and the Georgian Medical Society asked for help, and A Call To Serve and a number of Columbians responded by forming the Columbia Cares for Kutaisi committee in 2001. During that first campaign, 120,000 individual boxes of iodized salt more.... |
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