According to the World Bank, the under-five mortality rate in Iran was 15.5 per cent in 2015. The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has made a strong commitment to reduce mortality rates through improved public health. In 1979 Iran introduced the Primary Health Care Network (PHCN) in order to provide free access to basic health care services at the district and village level. The Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) manages Iran’s health care system through a network of some 17,000 ‘health houses’, more than 2,000 rural health centres and over 700 hospitals and clinics.
The PHCN provides basic health care services, including vaccinations and maternal and child health for all in target communities. The PHCN is complemented by two comprehensive health insurance schemes designed to provide higher levels of coverage to eligible claimants. The Medical Service Insurance Organisation (MSIO) offers contributory health insurance to the public sector, students and those in rural areas not covered under other schemes. The MSIO provides full coverage for all services not covered under PHCN, including diagnostic services, treatment of illness and disease and emergency services. The Social Security Organisation (SSO) operates a compulsory and contributory insurance scheme for the formal sector and the self-employed with contributions at 7 per cent by the employee, 20 per cent by the employer and 3 per cent by the government. The SSO reaches 36 per cent of the population and provides full coverage at a network of 27 hospitals, 260 clinics, and access to State hospitals with 10 per cent of the cost shared by the claimant. Together the MSIO and SSO schemes provided coverage to 90 per cent of the population in 2014.
The Government of Iran has achieved substantial progress in expanding social services through targeted health care schemes over the past three decades. These achievements were strengthened with legal provisions through the Public Health Insurance Law passed in 1995 in an attempt to further promote equality in the provision of coverage to all, including rural and indigenous peoples. Iran’s comprehensive healthcare system represents a strong investment in public health and is an essential step toward the creation of a social protection floor.
Further Reading:
George Schieber, Nicole Klingen (1999). Health Financing Reform in Iran: Principles and Possible Next Steps. Accessed from http://www.who.int/nha/docs/en/Health_financing_reform_Iran_principles_next_steps.pdf on 24 July 2013.
Also accesible from http://www.jointlearningnetwork.org/resources/download/get_file/ZW50cnlfaWQ6MjY1NnxmaWVsZF9uYW1lOnJlc291cmNlX2ZpbGV8dHlwZTpmaWxl accessed on December 2016.