Background: Health equity is “having fair access to healthcare, utilizing it according to actual needs, paying for it based on financial capacity and finally, having an acceptable level of health”. Health equity is an underlying principle of the universal declaration of human rights. Equitable distribution of hospital beds increases people’s access to healthcare services and as a result, improv...

We evaluated the performance of microbiology laboratories in the 10th run of the external quality assessment scheme (EQAS) in Tehran and districts. Each laboratory was sent 2 species of bacteria for identification. Of the 487 laboratories that participated, 437 returned their findings. While 77.0% and 69.9% correctly identified Staphylococcus saprophyticus and Citrobacter freundii respectively,...

BACKGROUND In Iran, there are an estimated 200,000 injecting drug users (IDUs). Injecting drug use is a relatively new phenomenon for this country, where opium smoking was the predominant form of drug use for hundreds of years. As in many countries experiencing a rise in injecting drug use, HIV/AIDS in Iran is associated with the injection of drugs, accounting for transmission of more than two-...

BACKGROUND Women's health is a general health priority. Preserving and improving women's health is not only a basic human right, but it is also essential for the health of all nations. Women's health in Reproductive age affects long-term health of theirs, their family members, and community. Origins of health inequalities are very complicated. Health outcomes are influenced by biological, socia...

Background: Social capital has been defined as norms, networks, and social links that facilitate collective actions. Social capital is related to a number of main social and public health variables. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the factors associated with social capital among the residents of Tehran, Iran. Methods: In this large cross-sectional population-based study, 31531 r...

Food safety has a direct impact on human health and as such is a growing concern worldwide. Presence of harmful pesticide residue in food is a serious cause for concern among consumers so it is important to monitor levels of pesticides in foods. The aim of this study was simultaneous determination of concentrations of 58 pesticides in 40 wheat flour samples collected from Tehran market in Janua...

BACKGROUND Evaluation of intra-city roads in terms of environmental factors of motor vehicle injuries can help us to better identify these factors and the share of each of the factors in injuries. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the high injury areas and the risk factors of motor vehicle crashes resulting in injury and death in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, from November 20...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to describe the temporal determinants of meningitis incidence in the population living in the Tehran metropolis. METHODS All cases of meningitis reported to health districts throughout the Tehran metropolis from 1999 to 2005 were abstracted from patient files. Referral cases (patients who did not reside in the Tehran metropolis) were excluded. For each yea...

Two hundred and twenty five school going girls belonging to three districts of Hazara Division, Pakistan were sampied for rubella antibodies. Age range selected was 5 to 15 years. IgG was positive in 7X.22% of cases and IgM in 24.44% of cases. The antibodies pattern and prevalence was the same in all the three districts. A clear increase of IgG was seen up to the age of II years but between...