Health Status in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Middle East and North Africa Countries: Implications for Global Health

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the health status of Iranians following the sustainable development goals (SDGs) introduction and to compare with those of the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) and global. Methods: This comparative study used secondary data analysis to investigate socio-demographic and health status indicator. The sources included census, population-based surveys and death registries. The indicators in MENA were obtained from international databases including WHO, the World Bank and the Institute for Health Assessment and Evaluation (IHME). Results: Life expectancy and human development index increased following the HTP implementation. Among causes of death, 74.6% were attributed to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). There was an increasing trend in risk factors for NCDs in Iran, while at the same time Neonatal, infant and under-5 mortality rates reduced. Compared to the MENA, Iran has a lower maternal mortality ratio, neonatal, infant, and under-5 mortality rates, and a higher life expectancy. NCDs and road injuries accounted for a larger portion of disability-adjusted life years in Iran compared to the MENA and worldwide. Conclusion: Actions against communicable diseases and road traffic injuries are required together with continued efforts to address NCDs. Although Iran does not have a low global SDGs Index ranking, there is a need to develop a roadmap to accelerate achieving global health goals and SDGs implementation.

Epilepsy lifetime prevalence in Iran: a large population- based national survey

“…Their study mainly focused on idiopathic and conditions secondary to infectious diseases including meningitis, tetanus, malaria, cysticercosis 6 . Despite their finding, probably due to improvement in the control of infectious diseases in Iran 8 , our results did not conclude to a remarkable participation of these mechanisms in the life time prevalence of epilepsy in Iran. Nevertheless, the active prevalence of idiopathic epilepsy in Iran may be higher than the global, 2.7% against 0.038%, respectively 6 .…”

The Effective Coverage of Maternal and Child Primary Health Care Services and its Relationship with Health Expenditures: An Analysis at Sub-National Level in Iran

“…Although indicators related to care for infectious disease among children are far from 100% coverage, the children mortality rate (under fiveyears old) has a declining trend since 2010 (15.3 to 9.4). However, children mortality might be caused by these diseases, which should be considered in future assessments[11,26].…”

“…The significant reduction in maternal and neonatal mortality and the high coverage of universal vaccination are among the achievements of the PHC program in the above-mentioned rounds in Iran [11].…”

“…The maternal mortality rate is decreasing in Iran, and according to the latest available report [11], it has a ratio of 16 per 100,000 live births, which has had an appropriate decrease compared to the rate in 2010 [29]. This decrease implies that the measures taken to improve maternal care in Iran have been successful [26].…”

“…The significant reduction in maternal and neonatal mortality and the high coverage of universal vaccination are among the achievements of the PHC program in the above-mentioned rounds in Iran[11]. Moreover, in recent years, UHC has been at the center of the global public health agenda, and monitoring UHC is a part of the regular system of health systems performance assessment worldwide[12].…”