Health in First to Sixth Economic, Social, and Cultural Development Plans of Iran: A Document Analysis

Abstract

Background: Development plans aimed at macro-management planning in a country significantly impact all functional fields. This study investigated the status and significance of the health sector in the first to sixth economic, social, and cultural development plans in Iran. Methods: This was a review study using documentary analysis method. The review was conducted with an emphasis on purposefully selected upstream information. Then, the obtained data were analyzed by the secondhand documents, including authentic reports and published studies on this topic. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made checklist. Data analysis was run using content analysis. Results: There has been increasing attention to the health sector issues throughout development plans. Civil engineering, pharmaceuticals supply, and population control in the first and second plans; the extension of public insurance and service ranking in the third plan; formation of the Supreme Council of Health, and attention to medical emergencies in the fourth plan; targeting subsidies in the fifth plan; and policies to encourage population increase and reduce out-ofpocket expense have been the most critical concerns in the sixth development plan. Conclusion: Failure to achieve the expected results in the plans and repeating the same text in the following plan indicates the government's poor commitment to some plan aspects provision, especially at a particular time. Moreover, they paid insufficient attention to international trends and health promotion issues. These issues must be an urgent concern in future development plans.

Impact of 2017 ACC/AHA guideline on prevalence, awareness, treatment, control, and determinants of hypertension: a population-based cross-sectional study in southwest of Iran

“…The 6th 5-year National Plan of Economic, Social and Cultural Development of Islamic Republic of Iran (2017–2021) prioritizes the health of the population by expanding health service coverage and increasing financial protection mechanisms [ 4 ]. Achieving and sustaining UHC of HTN requires assessing the longer-term costs of health care, which is highly dependent on the HTN indicators such as prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control.…”

The challenges of rural family physician program in Iran: a discourse analysis of the introduction to criticizing power imbalance between rural health and mainstream urban health

“…(Document 15) This program aims to provide support, help with personal health issues, and enhance the quality of patient care and public safety by promoting health and wellbeing for the medical profession that cares for all Iran (Document 1). This shift has caused tension in the government because it has traditionally adopted a physical development model of state-run healthcare facilities for distributive justice, where its main task involves equity in access to health services (Khodayari-Zarnaq et al 2020). A former senior health official stated:…”

“…The government promotes its notion of rural FPP to serve ideological purposes, including outreach to the poor and social justice (first theme) by defining it as a facilitator of patient transfer to urban care centers to compensate for the rural health deficit alignment with the urban-oriented medical curriculum (second theme). Therefore, it is clear that failure to achieve the expected results in providing more resources, improving health outcomes and a larger health workforce and repeating the same text in the following plan indicate the government's poor commitment to some plan aspects provision, especially at a particular time (see Michielsen et al 2011;Khodayari-Zarnaq et al 2020). Beyond primary care goals, political attention to developing a specific format of the program to fill the gap between urban and rural areas in access to services along with patient transfer to care centers in cities to compensate for deficits have created an inferior discourse that shape health professionals' thoughts and decisions in relation to working and living conditions in rural areas (Document 23).…”

Reviewing the National Health Services Quality Policies and Strategies of the Iranian Health System: A Document Analysis

“…The quality of the health service at the point of care in 5YPFDs also did not persist. [ 73 74 75 ] This issue could be a sign of political unwillingness because it occasionally addresses the quality of the health service at the point of care depending on the prevailing opinion of experts. The results of a study showed that whenever senior management within the health system of Iran changes, different strategies are then established and followed.…”