Islamic Republic of Iran | Priority areas | Mental health and substance abuse

WHO in Islamic Republic of Iran

Mental health and substance abuse

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What we do

Reducing drug use among children and adolescents

To respond to the need for comprehensive and sustainable drug prevention and treatment services for children and youth in the country, jointly with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), under the Iranian Drug Control Headquarter's leadership, WHO conducts capacity-building of service providers, enhances knowledge management, improves monitoring and evaluation, conducts advocacy and communication activities, and provides support in developing a national strategic plan to prevent and treat drug use among children and adolescents. The national plan will be piloted in a selected number of provinces in a variety of settings, including in schools, families, recreational areas, sporting facilities and juvenile justice centres.

The plan adopts a results-based management approach in its development in line with the goals of the European Union-funded project.

Scaling up of the family programme for children aged 10–14

The strengthening families programme is a nationally and internationally recognized parenting and family strengthening programme in line with UNODC and WHO international standards on preventing drug use. The programme has been evaluated in Mashhad, Shiraz, Lorestan and Beheshti universities of medical sciences and a scaled up plan will be developed based on findings.

Assessment of job-related stress and occupational burnout among Iranian health workers in the context of COVID-19

In collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education a project is ongoing to propose mental health support and solutions to address occupational burnout among Iranian health workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What we have achieved

Mental health response plan in the context of COVID-19

As the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly sweeps across the world, it has caused a considerable degree of stress or anxiety in the population at large and among certain groups in particular. In this context, access to and continuity of services for people with developing or existing mental health conditions remains a major concern. In line with WHO guidelines for mental health and essential services for the COVID-19 pandemic and with the technical support of the WHO country office, the Department for Mental Health and Substance Abuse in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education developed an evidence-based response plan that benefited from global best practices and provided psychosocial and consulting support through adoption of a wide range of approaches.

National helpline

The Ministry, with WHO technical support, established a national helpline for people to contact mental health professionals for remote mental health services. This helpline was initially launched following technical infrastructure and support provided by the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology to provide virtual services. The helpline can be reached by dialling 4030. All calls are free of charge.

Online mental health platform

In 2020, the WHO Regional Office launched a mental health and psychosocial support platform. The platform consists of a questionnaire to self report on mental health problems and a broad range of educational material related to mental health. An Iranian version of the platform was developed and launched for use by the general population.

Access the platform

Zanjan international mental health photo exhibition

The main barrier in preventing and treating mental health disorders is stigma. To address stigma and negligence, art, and photography in particular, can be powerful tools for advocacy in motivating people to take action and to talk about mental health issues. In collaboration with Zanjan University of Medical Sciences and the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Department of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, an international photo exhibition was held in Zanjan in 2018 in which the best photos were selected for awards and publishing.

What is next

Reducing drug use among children and adolescents

Scaling up of the national plan to reduce drug use among children and adolescents.