major public health problem. Central provinces, far from the sea, had the highest prevalence of iodine deficiency. The national salt enrichment program had a great rapid success. Prevalence of goiter in Iran dropped dramatically. The national survey in 1996 reported 40% of boys and 50% of girls have goiter. The 3rd national survey in 2001 showed that the total goiter rate is 9.8%. In 2007, the 4th national survey was conducted 17 years after iodized salt consumption by Iranian households. In this study the total goiter rate was 5.7%.</ref> Concerns of iodine deficiency have raised over recent years due to consumption of non-iodized salts especially sea salt which is strongly suggested by traditional medicine workers in Iran. Many of whom have not any academic studies. Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, a country in Central Eurasia in which local food supplies seldom contain sufficient iodine, has drastically reduced iodine deficiency through salt iodization programs. Campaigns by the government and non-profit organizations to educate the public about the benefits of iodized salt began in the mid-1990s, with iodization of edible salt becoming legally mandatory in 2002. Nepal The Salt Trading Corporation has been distributing Iodized Salt in Nepal since 1963. 98% of the Population uses Iodized Salt. Utilising non-Iodised salt for human consumption is prohibited. Salt costs about US$0.27 a Kilo. Philippines On December 20, 1995, Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos signed Republic Act 8172: An Act for Salt Iodization Nationwide (ASIN). Romania According to the 568/2002 law signed by the Romanian parliament and republished in 2009, since 2002 iodized salt is distributed mandatory in the whole country. It is used mandatory on the market for household consumption, in bakeries, and for pregnant women. Iodised salt is optional though for animal consumption and the food industry, although widely used. The salt iodization process has to assure a minimum of 30mg iodine/kg of salt. South Africa The South African government instructed that all salt for sale was to be iodised after December 12, 1995. United States Iodized salt is not mandatory in the US but it is widely available. In the U.S. in the early 20th century, goitres were especially prevalent in the region around the Great Lakes and the Pacific Northwest. David Murray Cowie, a professor of paediatrics at the University of Michigan, led the U.S. to adopt the Swiss practice of adding sodium iodide or potassium iodide to table and cooking salt. On May