Search

Since its revival in 1989, the reproductive health and family planning program of Iran has made great strides in raising the contraceptive prevalence rate and reducing fertility. The majority of couples are using modern methods promoted and provided by the national program, although a sizable proportion of couples continue to depend on the traditional method of withdrawal. The longstanding urban-rural gap in contraceptive prevalence rates has been reduced to about 10 percent, which is mainly the result of better-educated urban couples' continued practice of withdrawal. Despite its enormous success in meeting the needs of married couples, in narrowing the urban-rural gap in access to and use of modern contraceptives, and in reducing fertility, the Iranian family planning program is open to criticism for confining its target audience to married couples and failing to address the issue of abortion. The restrictive aspects of the program are often justified on the grounds of religious values and fear of encouraging sexual promiscuity. Because of the theocratic nature of the political system and the immense power enjoyed by Shiite ulama (religious leaders), no step can be taken to address these restrictions without their implicit support and approval. This study describes some of the ethical issues facing the reproductive health program of Iran and indicates how pragmatic approaches adopted by the ruling Shiite ulama to solve some of the social and medical challenges of a rapidly modernizing society may be extended to overcome ethical hurdles faced by the reproductive health program., According to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994, reproductive health 'is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely [...]

This paper analyses research on the impact of work on mothers' health in Tehran (Iran) within a role analytic framework. A survey was conducted of a representative sample of working and non-working mothers in Tehran in 1998 (N = 1065, 710 working mothers, and 355 non-working mothers). Three main explanatory factors were examined (socio-demographic, work and work-related, and social-life context variables) alongside a range of mental and physical health outcome variables. Unlike in the West, where women's paid work is generally associated with better health, statistically significant differences between working and non-working women were not found in Tehran. It is argued that this is a result of the counter-balance of the positive and negative factors associated with paid work, such as increased stress on one hand and self-esteem on the other. Iranian society's particular socio-cultural climate has contributed to this finding, with its dominant gender-role ideology; the priority and extra weight placed on women's traditional roles as wives and mothers, and the remarkably influential impact of husbands' attitudes on women's health. Keywords: Iran; Women's health; Work; Roles

Since its establishment in 1985, the Primary Health Care Network of (the Islamic Republic of) Iran has provided a unique opportunity for annual longitudinal data collection on the total population of a large number of rural communities. The village-based rural health workers who run the system are given necessary training to collect a variety of data on the population of the main and satellite villages served by them. The main instrument of data management used is a sheet of paper 50 × 70cm with concentrically coloured circles at the centre; it is known as the "vital horoscope". In addition to graphically representing monthly events, the vital horoscope includes seven tables summarizing the results of the annual census, detailed information about live births, neonatal, infant, child and maternal mortality, under-five mortality by cause of death, and family planning. This article presents the main findings of an analysis of vital horoscopes covering 16,000 rural health houses representing all provinces of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the period 1993-2003. The data indicate impressive changes in the age structure, fertility rates and various health indicators of villagers covered by the primary health-care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]