Forty million Ethiopians suffer from iodine deficit

The Ethiopian health minister said Saturday in Addis Ababa that almost 40 million people in his country are suffering from iodine deficit.

According to the Ethiopian news agency, UNICEF will help the government supply local producers with equipment needed to add iodine to salt while an official said his country will import iodized salt from Yemen and Kenya.

Ethiopia used to import iodized salt from Eritrea before a border conflict broke out last May between the two countries.