Primary health care system, narrowing of rural–urban gap in health indicators and rural poverty reduction: the experience of Iran

Amir-Houshang Mehryar, Ministry of Science, Research & Technology
Shirin Ahmad-Nia, Ministry of Science, Iran

Rural residents have traditionally been the most deprived segment of Iranian population in terms of income, education and health status. The past two decades have seen some improvement in their general living standards. Yet, the average income of rural households remains at about 60% of the urban population. Despite this continuing disparity in income and access to education and modern amenities, the past decade has witnessed a striking improvement in the health indicators of rural population. This is generally attributed to Iran's innovative, community based primary health system. The aim of this paper is to present latest data bearing on the narrowing of the gap between urban and rural areas of Iran in terms of a variety of health indicators. The results indicate how government investment in a low-cost, culturally sensitive and locally acceptable primary health care system can be effective in improving the health status of rural population.