Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42693208›Full record

ArticleNature food2026

Loss of salt iodization harmed child survival and academic achievement in Ethiopia.

Robel Alemu, Kibrom Tafere, Dawd Gashu, Edward J M Joy, Elizabeth H Bailey, R Murray Lark, Martin R Broadley, William A Masters

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Nature food, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Robel AlemuUniversity of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. robel.alemu02@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3795-3983
Kibrom TafereDevelopment Research Group, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5261-5619
Dawd GashuCentre for Food Science and Nutrition, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6067-4432
Edward J M JoyDepartment of Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0106-866X
Elizabeth H BaileySchool of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5266-3792
R Murray LarkSchool of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2571-8521
Martin R BroadleyRothamsted Research, West Common Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK.
William A MastersFriedman School of Nutrition, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4546-7291

Funding

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) INV-002962
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The introduction of salt iodization is associated with improved health and socioeconomic outcomes, but is not yet universally adopted and is not always sustained. Using a quasi-experimental event study with difference-in-differences over space and time, we quantify the impacts of iodine deficiency in utero and during infancy on childhood mortality and later academic achievement in Ethiopia, comparing cohorts born just before and after the May 1998 border closure that interrupted access to iodized salt. Rural children with fewer months of early-life exposure to iodized salt scored lower on standardized secondary-school exams, especially in districts with low environmental iodine, with excess deaths emerging in infancy and persisting through early childhood. These findings reveal the long-term benefits of salt iodization for health and education, especially for people with low intake of iodine from environmental sources.

Indexed as

Child MortalityIodineSodium Chloride, DietaryChildChild, PreschoolEducational StatusEthiopiaFemaleHumansInfantMaleRural PopulationIodineiodized saltSodium Chloride, Dietary

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.