For four months every year, the monsoons flood Bangladesh and the sheer volume of water is washing away an essential nutrient - iodine. Iodine deficiency causes mental and physical retardation, and it is estimated that more than half
Bangladesh's population is affected. Michael Buerk reports on Unicef's attempts to supplement iodine in people's diets through a process of salt iodisation. Buerk says: "It is only the most dramatic disasters which grab the world's attention. Aid agencies describe iodine deficiency disorder as a silent crisis.
Generations of Bangladeshis have quietly suffered the consequences.... It's only now that the government is recognising that the problem is an environmental one."
Producer Grant Mansfield
Editor Amanda Theunissen
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