From left to right: WHO Director of Governance and Health Financing Dr Soucat, Assistant to WHO Director-General Dr Yamamoto, and H.E. Minister of Health and Medical Education of Islamic Republic of Iran Dr Hashemi.26 June 2018 – The International Health Partnership for UHC2030 is the global movement to strengthen health systems to achieve universal health coverage (UHC). During WHO's 71st World Health Assembly in May 2018, held in Geneva, Islamic Republic of Iran joined this initiative officially as a member. The signatories of the partnership were H.E. the Minister of Health and Medical Education Dr Seyed Hassan Hashemi, Dr Naoko Yamamoto WHO Assistant Director-General, UHC and Health Systems, and Dr Timothy Evans, Senior Director, Health, Nutrition, and Population-Global Practice of World Bank.
In May 2014, Islamic Republic of Iran launched an innovative plan towards achieving UHC named the Health Transformation Plan, which aims to achieve UHC by 2030. Islamic Republic of Iran is committed for decades to the health for all strategy with less financial hardship, more access to services with improved quality of care, and a well trained health workforce.
In order to better understand the motivation of the country for UHC and joining the UJC2030 partnership, the acting Minister and Deputy General of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Dr Iraj Harirchi was interviewed.