Health Promoting Schools in Iran: Features and Challenges

Background and Purpose: Looking at school as a place to improve the health of students, parents, teachers and school staff is a view that health promotion schools are seeking to achieve. This vision has been shaped internationally for many years, and each country has taken measures to achieve this, depending on its regional, cultural and institutional characteristics. In Iran, for eight years now, the idea of health promotion schools has been formed as "Health Promoting Schools" and many schools are engaged under the same heading. Despite the quantity growth of these schools in Iran, there are a lot of problems with the implementation of these schools, and there is still a long way from reaching schools that actually promote health. This article has been written with the aim of introducing health promotion schools in Iran to the characteristics and challenges of these schools.