This paper reviews and compares eleven studies that have estimated external costs of fossil electricity generation by benefits transfer. These studies include thirteen countries and most of these countries are developing countries. The impact pathway approach is applied to estimate the environmental impact arising from fossil fuel fired power plant's air emission and the related damages on human health. The estimated damages are used to value the monetary external costs from fossil fuel electricity generation. The estimated external costs in the thirteen countries vary from 0.51 to 213.5 USD (2005) per MWh due to differences in fossil fuel quality, location, technology and efficiency of power plants and additionally differences in assumptions, monetization values and impact estimations. Accounting for these externalities can indicate the actual costs of fossil energy. The results can be applied by policy makers to take measures to avoid additional costs and to apply newer and cleaner energy sources. The described methods in the selected studies to estimate external costs with respect to incomplete local data, can be applied as a useful example for other developing countries.

Background: Health is a fundamental issue in recent years, highlighting the importance of harmonizing the policies of any sector with health strategies. The present study aims to identify the socio-economic factors affecting health and to provide a cognitive map of the social determinants of health in Iran. Study Design: A retrospective cohort study. Methods: This study follows a developmental process with an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach. First, a meta-synthesis qualitative method determines the most critical health determinants by reviewing 54 studies from 2000 to 2019. Then, the fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) is drawn based on interviews with six experts to derive the causal relationships among the social determinants of population health in Iran. Results: Stage 1 introduces 170 factors as the health determinants, classified into four levels: individual, local, national, and global levels, with 7, 4, 13, and 3 branches, respectively. According to the causal relationships and the out-degree (od) index, the most effective factors are the economic system (18.24), governance and policy-making (17.13), and national policies (16.93). According to the degree of centrality, these factors are the economic system (33.27), health system (30.37), and governance and policy-making (30.15). Conclusion: Considering health as a complex and comprehensive system, the resulting FCM displays that the policies developed in other sectors than health are profoundly affecting population’s health in Iran. Specifically, the comparative analysis of this research shows that policies regarding the economic system and people’s livelihood are more effective than the policies regarding the health system itself on the population’s health in Iran.

Background and Purpose: In recent decades, research has shown that social determinants of health (SDH) affect population health more than medical care. Therefore, identifying the SDH has become a top priority. Materials and Methods: It is an explanatory-sequential mixed-method study. We used the meta-synthesis method in the first step to identify and prioritize social determinants of population health in Iran. Then, the identified factors were shown in a semantic map. Afterward, we used fuzzy Delphi to screen and determine each factor’s importance in Iran. Results: A total of 172 factors were identified and classified into 4 levels: individual, local, national, and global. After screening items, parental competence, hope, addiction, types of pollution, inflation, and unemployment rate (the crisp value of defuzzification 9-10) are generally the most important determinants of population health at the individual and national levels in Iran. Conclusion: The resulting semantic map of SDH demonstrates the substantial effect of non-health policies on the health of Iran’s population. This finding proposes health as a complex and comprehensive system needing an interdisciplinary approach to address its multiple determinants. Specifically, the comparative analysis of this research shows that among the determinants of health in Iran, parental competence, individual behaviors such as addiction, and spiritual and mental health, including depression, suicide, and stress, are the most important SDH in Iran.