OBJECTIVE To use neonatal thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentration data to measure the iodine status of the population of the Australian state of Victoria. DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING Retrospective analysis of the results of 368,552 neonatal heel-prick blood tests for TSH concentration in Victoria in the years 2001-2006. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Iodine deficiency as indicated by a ...

background a number of developing countries have contracted out public health facilities to the non-government organizations (ngos) in order to improve service utilization. however, there is a paucity of in-depth qualitative information on barriers to access services as a result of contracting from service users’ perspective. the objective of this study was to explore perceived barriers to util...

pierre-gerlier forest has put forward the case that we are on the brink of a revolution in health policy that will be the result of the interplay of five factors. i would not challenge any of them but would emphasize the need to address socio-economic health inequalities, which have the potential to become a major cost driver in a time of growing economic inequality. to dr. forest’s list, i wou...

background: inequality in households’ and individuals' consumption expenditures is one of the most important aspects of health status difference among households and individuals. objectives: we investigated the impact of some macro-economic factors specially inequality factors on the iranian rural health status since 1986 through 2012. patients and methods: we conducted a longitudinal ecologica...

BACKGROUND Infant and under-5 childhood mortality rates in developing countries have declined significantly in the past 2 to 3 decades. However, 2 critical indicators, maternal and newborn mortality, have hardly changed. World leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000 agreed on a critical goal to reduce deaths of children <5 years by two thirds, but this may be unattaina...

background: an obvious gradient in health outcomes has been implicated in many evidences relating to social and economic factors. proper data are requested to convince policy-makers calling for intersectoral action for health. recently, i.r. of iran has come up with 52 health equity indicators to monitor health equity through the country. conducting regular surveys on 14 out of 52 national heal...

background: attention to worker's health and safety is one of the priorities in health and medical delivery system of iran. this study was to assess health, medical and safety activities in hamadan province industries having more than 50 workers in 1997 . methods: the study group was made up of 3377 workers. for collecting data a questionnaire was provided and sent to the subject industries. he...

OBJECTIVE To assess the association between cesarean delivery rates and pregnancy outcomes in African health facilities. METHODS Data were obtained from all births over 2-3 months in 131 facilities. Outcomes included maternal deaths, severe maternal morbidity, fresh stillbirths, and neonatal deaths and morbidity. RESULTS Median cesarean delivery rate was 8.8% among 83439 births. Cesarean de...

background: prevalence of sexual dysfunction varies from 20% to 40% in men and women in different studies in iran. despite its high prevalence, it seems that this issue has been neglected, particularly in islamic countries. the aim of this study was to assess sexual health in iran. this was a mixed method study.   methods: data were collected through evaluating country's sexual health programs ...