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The Swiss Doctor who's here to oversee the project told us more::

Michael B. Zimermann, MD, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
"UNICEF and the ministry of health did a survey in 2015 that showed that two thirds of households in Belize were using iodized salt and one thirds was not. Iodine salt is the major source of iodine in the diet. That suggested not all households or children in Belize are getting adequate iodine. We'll actually measure how much iodine their getting by measuring the iodine in the urine."

Robyn Daly, Nutritionist Ministry of Health
"We will collect a small sample of urine from them on sight and also the height and weight and issue a small questionnaire to them as well."

Reporter
"What would you say to those parents who are perhaps uncomfortable with a sample of a bodily fluid being taken from their child?"

Robyn Daly, Nutritionist Ministry of Health
"Parents should not be too concerned. It's not very invasive per say. We're not using any needles or anything that is going to harm the child. Urine is actually a waste product from the body. It is something very efficient and useful to see the level of iodine that's in the child's system. It's nothing to be afraid of. We have our trained professional nurses that will be there and of course we welcome parents. They can feel free to come or send a guardian if they want to view."

Reporter
"If there aren't receiving the right amount of iodine, how is it affecting their development?"

Michael B. Zimermann, MD, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
"Iodine is critical nutrient for brain function and brain development. A child whose mildly iodine efficient will have an IQ drop of about 3 to 5 points which means a lot in school performance. If you don't have iodine, the child won't listen in school, attention spans decrease, memory is poor, concentration is poor. It's really a critical nutrient for school performance and learning."

Robyn Daly, Nutritionist Ministry of Health
"We are expecting Belize to have mild efficiency. We don't expect severe deficiency from our children. Why? Because we live near the Caribbean Sea, we eat a lot of sea food. Our past study had shown that 65% of homes are using iodized salt and there's many foods such as milk, eggs, yogurt, dairy products and also a couple fruits that have in iodine. I think that we do have enough consumption of foods in iodine and we're using mostly iodized salt. The survey will confirm to us if our consumptions are right."

Michael B. Zimermann, MD, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
"Sea food is the best natural source of iodine however many countries that have a large fishing industry, a lot of the fish is exported and people don't eat a lot of fish. it's expensive as well, so we're finding that in many island nation you'd expect to have adequate iodine intakes because of their geographical situation, they actually have low intakes because people don't eat fish very often."

Robyn Daly, Nutritionist Ministry of Health
"If we find deficiencies, if it's mild to moderate they can be corrected with just a basic intervention of getting more iodine into the diet. From there we can know how severe of mild the deficiency is by a country perspective where Belize is as it pertains to children and iodine content."

The tests will be sent to Switzerland for analysis and the results should be back in two and a half months.

The survey will include approximately four hundred children between ages 6 and 12 years from four schools in three districts.

The survey is being carried out in 9 Caribbean countries.