Select Public Health Policies in Iran: Recommendations for Action

• Date: 01 June 2016
• Published date: 01 June 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.186

Select Public Health Policies in Iran: Recommendations

for Action

Mehdi Aloosh, Amir Alishahi Tabriz, and Alipasha Meysamie

For a decade, the Iranian population growth rate has remained constant at around 1.3 percent. To

address this issue, the Iranian government has terminated the national family planning program

and removed all of the information about birth control methods from school education, media, and

government websites. Moreover, the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME)

has implemented a program, entitled “Reproductive Health,” with the aim of increasing the fertility

rate to at least 2.1 percent. Accordingly, women of reproductive age with fewer than three children

are found and encouraged to deliver at least three children. MOHME has also restricted providing

permanent sterilization services to the community by new regulations, and banned advertisement of

family planning in health clinics. These policies potentially have signif‌icant negative consequences

on public health in Iran. Therefore, we provide a set of recommendations from health policy and

public health points of view. This includes improving maternal and child health, prevention of non-

communicable diseases, traff‌ic injury prevention, and strengthening elderly health care.

KEY WORDS: public health policy, aging, family planning

Background

Between 1980 and 1989, the Iranian population experienced a baby boom,

with an average population growth rate of 4 percent and 6.48 births per woman

(World Bank, 2014). After this peak, Iran experienced a constant decrease in

population growth rate, down to 1.3 percent between 2003 and 2013 (World Bank,

2014). Several reasons have been discussed related to this phenomenon, including

social changes at the macro and micro (family or individual) levels, economic

factors, and a successful national family planning program (Abbasi-Shavazi,

McDonald, & Chavoshi, 2003).

The decline in the birth rate is expected to result in the constriction of the labor

force in subsequent decades, which has some potentially dire consequences for Iran.

For instance, the social security system will experience a decline in the worker-to-

benef‌iciary ratio. Thus, each year fewer workers will provide benef‌its to a growing

number of retirees, while the elderly population increases expenses for governmental

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2016

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1948-4682 #2016 Policy Studies Organization

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