National health authorities and the WHO consultant at the workshop briefing session. Photo credit: WHO/WHO Iran2 November 2023, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran – A new partnership between the WHO Iran Country Office and the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) aims to provide essential technical support for the production and institutionalization of the country’s health accounts. The Ministry’s Department of Resource Management and Development is custodian of the Iranian health accounts and the collaboration has come about in response to a request from the Department’s undersecretary.
Health accounts provide an up-to-date and systematic description of the financial flows related to the consumption of health goods and services. This makes government processes more transparent and is a step towards better financial protection for the community. Financial protection is achieved when direct payments made to obtain health services do not expose people to financial hardship and do not threaten living standards.
Dr Anastas Aghazarian, an esteemed consultant to WHO, has arrived in the Islamic Republic of Iran to lend his expertise and support the national health accounts team in the production of national health accounts and health system expenditures. Dr Aghazarian will implement the System of Health Accounts 2011 methodology during his mission, which began with a briefing on available data sources and the data flow.
This significant undertaking was greeted with a warm welcome message from Dr Behrooz Rahimi, Deputy Minister for Resource Management and Development. Joining the inauguration of the collaboration were representatives of the undersecretariats for Curative Affairs, Public Health, and Resource Management and Development, and of the Information Technology Centre. Also in attendance were delegates from the Statistical Centre of Iran, National Institute for Health Research, High Council for Health Insurance and, as the main insurance organizations in the country, Iran Health Insurance Organization and the Social Security Organization.
The mission will progress with a 3-day training of trainers workshop on 29–31 October, followed by a high-level policy dialogue on health accounts. The aim of the participatory workshop is to strengthen national capacity for producing national health accounts using the WHO Health Accounts Production Tool.
Relevant MOHME departments, selected universities of medical sciences, the Research Center of Parliament, the Budget and Planning Organization, different insurance organizations and the Statistical Centre of Iran were invited to join the workshop. The dialogue that follows will involve engagement with relevant ministries, departments and government bodies to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange.
This collaborative effort by the WHO Iran Country Office and MOHME signifies an important step towards enhancing the Iranian health landscape. It reflects a commitment to transparency, accountability and informed decision-making in the realm of health system management to ensure that people have equitable access to health services.
Health accounts data will help inform policy-making on prepayment and the pooling of resources for health. Moving away from the reliance on people paying out of pocket for health services is an important step towards universal health coverage.