An international collaboration that connects academic researches and health program practices

摘要

This paper summarized several research results, which were conducted under collaboration with organizations in Mongolia and Japan, and how these findings were applied to strengthen the national health program on elimination of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) in Mongolia, from 1996 to 2003. Implemented researches were in four categories: (1) assessment and monitoring of nation's IDD status, (2) salt intake estimation with the aim of determining appropriate iodine content in salt, and (3) effectiveness of iodized salt on normalizing goiter, Those research findings regarding IDD status and program were utilized for strengthening the program. It must be pointed out that collaboration among academic and governmental organizations is a prospective activity to contribute to improve community health. To the national public health program, academic researches can provide scientific evidences to its programming process from the viewpoints of clinical, social, economic, and people's perceptional aspects. Meanwhile, practical activities in fields always also bring the inspiration of new assumptions to researchers.