Date: 5/5/2009
TUMSPR News: In this report, TIME Magazine's reporter tries to look into the health volunteer program in Iran from different angels and touch, as much as possible, Iran's health system that has been a unique model in the world so far.
In an article, titled Tehran's Health Patrol, published on the last days of January 2009 by TIME Magazine, Iran's health volunteer program is probed at two of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) Health Centers.
The report starts its journey from a session held by one of the centers at Shahr-Ray Badr Urban Health Center for 12 women from different age groups and the instructor, usually one of the personnel from the same center, leads the discussion by covering thyroid gland diseases caused by iodine deficiency. Health volunteers usually take the health messages to their neighbors in the vicinity.
Later on, the article discusses the reasons for the formation of these assets to Iran's health system and believes rapid population growth and urbanization had been the primary cause in this regard and at the end of the article it adds other reasons: "mix of necessity and pragmatism as well as a fundamental belief" uttered by Dr. Hossein Malek-Afzali, one of the main founders of the program who won the U.N. Population Award in 2007.
Stressing the success rates in achieving a high coverage for vaccination, 100%, and close to universal access to sanitary water and the maternal care given to about 80% of pregnant women, the article rightfully argues the reason for not spotting a single case of polio in Iran for about eight years, although the country has been engulfed by countries with the disease occurrences.
Family planning programs is another issue addressed in the article. Giving a brief history of the alarming population growth rates of the country in the post-revolution era and the success story of Iranians active in the health sector in controlling it, the article quoting a sentence from Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Ahad, the head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Iran, gives credit to Iran's religious leaders for a pragmatic approach in helping health authorities in reducing the rate by their sermons, including in them pieces of relevant health advice.
Salour Health House, located in a village in Eslamshahr, run by Eslamshahr District Health Center, one of TUMS three District Health Centers which together are responsible for about a third of Tehran's urban and suburban areas health issues, is another story of health workers helping those in the furthest places to the capital to demonstrate equity in health in action.
Quoting the ideas of Dr. Ambrogio Manenti, the World Health Organization's representative in Iran, that "This country is in an epidemiological transition, moving from developing-country problems like communicable diseases to a country that is dominated by the diseases typical of developed countries," and exemplifying some figures related to road traffic accidents, taking a toll of 28,000 lives, cardiovascular diseases, air pollution, smoking and drug addiction, the article has drawn the attention to non-communicable diseases, which might be a challenge if not addressed in due time.
Iran's Health Hierarchy has been admired throughout the world for its success in delivering universal health services throughout the country efficiently.[1]
Reference:
1- TIME Magazine, Tehran Health Patrol , January 29, 2009. Available at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1874837,00.html
http://publicrelations.tums.ac.ir/english/news/detail.asp?newsID=11753
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