Over the years, organizations like the Iodine Global Network (IGN) have helped usher in one of public health’s most powerful yet unsung victories: the near eradication of iodine deficiency disorders in many parts of the world.
But success has made this silent victory invisible. And now, with recent foreign aid cuts pulling the rug out from under many frontline programs, that success threatens to unravel.
When funding stops, progress doesn’t pause, it reverses. This harsh reality became crystal clear in early 2025 when U.S. foreign aid cuts left critical programs hanging in the balance. Suddenly, interventions that had quietly protected millions of children from preventable brain damage risked disappearing overnight.
Thanks to the Rapid Response Fund, launched in partnership between The Life You Can Save and Founders Pledge, IGN and other high-impact organizations are getting the vital stopgap funding they need to protect decades of progress.
Since February 2025, the fund has raised US$6.4 million and granted over US$2 million to our recommended charities.
Voices from the Frontlines: A Conversation with Iodine Global Network
We sat down with the IGN to understand how the foreign aid cuts impacted their life-saving work and how the Rapid Response Fund helped bridge the gap when it mattered most.
Before the foreign aid cuts, what specific programs was IGN implementing, and how many people were being served?
In 2025, before the foreign aid cuts, IGN was supporting programs in more than 25 countries as well as at regional and global levels, including Mozambique, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Lebanon, China, and Mongolia, protecting the developing brains of millions of children.
What challenges did you face after the aid cuts, and how did they impact your operations and the communities you serve?
Our major collaboration with UNICEF, funded by USAID, allowed us to improve salt iodization programs both globally and in two specific regions, reaching countries around the world.
The loss of this funding hit us in three ways:
- We faced an immediate funding gap for programs already underway in Tanzania, Lebanon, and Sri Lanka. The Rapid Response Fund helped fill that critical need.
- We were developing new grants for activities across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia: Egypt, Lebanon, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bolivia, South Sudan, and Vietnam.
- A grant from UNICEF/USAID/CDC previously covered many global activities, including running our organization.
We’re also receiving requests for support from other countries that previously received USAID funding, including Madagascar. As labs that USAID/CDC once supported can no longer provide quality assurance, some countries are asking us to maintain these essential services.
Without this support, both the quality and coverage of iodized salt as well as population iodine status could be seriously compromised.
How has the Rapid Response Fund helped you address these challenges?
The Rapid Response Fund’s support is crucial to IGN’s work protecting populations from iodine deficiency. First, it helped us respond to immediate funding gaps, ensuring that progress made in Lebanon, Tanzania, and Sri Lanka stays protected.
Now, we’re implementing the activities we had already planned with UNICEF, but without USAID’s financial support. While UNICEF no longer has funding, they’ll continue providing logistical support for our activities in these countries so we can maintain our work in the regions listed above. We’re also exploring ways to support other technical needs, such as lab analysis.
What’s your longer term strategy, and what could be possible with additional support?
With some breathing space to reflect on the development and funding environment—and the need to do more with less—we’ve realized that our focus on sustainability has become more important than ever.
This is especially critical as the number of countries with inadequate iodine status continues rising, from a low of 19 in 2017 to 23 last year, leaving many more infants at risk of brain damage from iodine deficiency.
We’re developing innovative, low-cost tools to understand problems or barriers in successful iodine nutrition programs. This includes new ways to gather data and expand the use of iodized salt in food staples like bread to protect populations, especially as less food gets cooked at home.
Can you share a story that illustrates the impact of this funding?
Our Executive Director, Dr. Werner Schultink, reflects:
ICCIDD, now IGN, began its work in 1985, when the devastating effects of iodine deficiency, which include severe mental and physical disabilities, were widespread across the globe.
Since then, we’ve stood at the center of a global partnership that has lifted this burden from entire populations so effectively that people no longer remember it was ever a problem.
Salt iodization, which prevents and cures iodine deficiency, ranks among the greatest public health victories of recent decades.
Allowing this progress to slip away when we know exactly how to prevent it would represent a tragic loss for humanity. It may seem like a humble intervention, but its impact is enormous.
IGN remains a small organization. Our value lies in our unwavering watchfulness and commitment to ensuring every child reaches their full potential, protected from learning disabilities through sustainable iodine nutrition programs.
We can’t predict what the future holds, but we’ll continue this vital work for as long as possible.
When success becomes invisible, it becomes vulnerable
IGN’s story reveals a troubling paradox: the more successful a global health intervention becomes, the more invisible and vulnerable it grows.
Salt iodization has worked so well that entire generations have grown up without seeing the devastating effects of iodine deficiency disorders. This very success makes the intervention easy to take for granted—and even easier to cut when budgets get tight.
The numbers tell a different story, though. Despite decades of progress, the number of countries with inadequate iodine status is climbing again, from 19 in 2017 to 23 last year. Without continued vigilance and support, millions of children face the risk of preventable brain damage.
The Rapid Response Fund: a safety net for success
The Rapid Response Fund was created to answer moments exactly like this: when sudden funding gaps threaten to undo decades of progress.
Since launching in February 2025, it has raised $6.4 million and granted over $2 million, quickly disbursing grants to high-impact organizations like Iodine Global Network, ensuring that critical interventions don’t halt when support disappears.
The $50,000 grant to Iodine Global Network represents something invaluable: the difference between progress and regression, between protecting children’s futures and watching decades of achievements slip away.
This is smart philanthropy in action. We’re not just funding new initiatives, but safeguarding the foundations that make future progress possible.
Don’t let four decades of progress unravel
But the need remains urgent. With nearly $100 million in unmet needs across the global health landscape, every dollar donated to the Rapid Response Fund acts as a crucial stitch in the safety net protecting millions of lives. It’s our chance to preserve what we’ve built and carry it forward.
The choice is stark: we can act now to protect the infrastructure that has saved millions of lives, or we can watch as funding gaps allow preventable diseases and disabilities to return.
IGN’s story shows how the Rapid Response Fund makes the difference between continuation and collapse. Around the world, similar organizations face similar crises, and with your support, we can ensure none of them face it alone.
The progress we’ve achieved didn’t happen overnight, and it won’t vanish overnight either. But it will disappear—piece by piece, program by program—if we don’t act to protect it.
Learn More: Curious about how your support makes a difference? Explore the stories of impacted communities, dive into the fund’s mission, and see the impact of your generosity. Visit The Rapid Response Fund page here.
Take Action Now: Join the fight against the global health crisis. Your donation can save lives and create lasting change today. Make a donation here, and be part of the solution.
