Open AccessImpact of rural health development programme in the Islamic Republic of Iran on rural-urban disparities in health indicators
Author(s) -
Akbar Aghajanian,
Mehryar Ah,
Shirin Ahmadnia,
Shahla Kazemipour
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
eastern mediterranean health journal/eastern mediterranean health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.442
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1687-1634
pISSN - 1020-3397
DOI - 10.26719/2007.13.6.1466
Subject(s) - modernization theory , economic growth , rural area , health equity , socioeconomics , islamic republic , islam , rural health , geography , environmental health , health care , political science , medicine , sociology , economics , archaeology , law
By 1979 50 years of uneven development and modernization by governments prior to the Islamic Revolution had left rural parts of the Islamic Republic of Iran with extremely low economic and health status. This paper reports on the impact of the rural health development programme implemented as an effective and inexpensive way to improve the heath of the rural population, especially mothers and children. It describes the system of rural health centres, health houses and community health workers (behvarz) and demonstrates the effectiveness of the programme through declining measures of rural-urban disparities in health indicators. The implications of inexpensive rural health policies for other countries in the region such as Afghanistan and Central Asian countries with a similar sociocultural structure are discussed.