Health in the news: Differential scoring of provinces in Iran in terms of level of health

According to the latest scoring of provinces in Iran in tems of health level by Mr. Nejat Amini , Tehran, Markazi, and Isfahan provinces were scored as having appropriate level of health, Golestan, Ardabil, and Ghom provinces were classified into the middle grade, and finally Sistan & Baloochestan, Khoozestan, and Kohgilouyeh & Boyerahmad were given the worst score. Thirty-five different health indices were employed by Amini and his colleagues to make up a composite index for scoring health level of provinces.
From 1990 up to 2003 the inflation rate in health care costs in urban areas of the country was reported to be consistently more than general infation rate. The only exception was said to be the year 1992.
In a ten-year period from1991 to 2001 permanent hospital beds increased from 85,810 to 109,863. The corresponding figures for the number of hospitals during this period was an incresase from 639 to721. For each 100,000 population Iran has 5.14 medical specialist in average. The distribution of medical specialists are not even across provinces.

Source: Health level scoring in Iran. www.peikeiran.com, December 25, 2006. Code: 35935

My Comment: I wish I could publish the complete list of provinces along with their score in health level in English. I don't have access to it for the time being. Undoubtedly, Sistan & Baloochestan is the worst province in terms of poverty and consequently health indices. You can consider this province as a separate part of the whole picture. Portions of Sistan, especially areas close to Afghanistan-Iran border are extremely poor. Despite the fact that primary healthcare system with all its potential capacity is up and running in Sistan, other socio-economic factors prevent health indices to improve. Nowadays I hear that the government has particular plan for poverty reduction in poor areas of the coutnry but I am not optimistic about the short-term (and even long-term) results of these programs. According to many calculations the poverty gap has been getting bigger in the coutnry in recent decades.
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