“The first International Workshop on System Thinking in Iran Successfully concluded its opening ceremony and  officially started”

The first day -and the inauguration day- of the workshop was publicly held on Oct. 17^th from 16 till 18.15 IRST with more than 100 participants. During this virtual ceremony speakers and guests from both sides (Iran and Switzerland) including: Dr. Hossein Ghanaati, Head of TUMS, Dr. Farzad Mohamadi, NIMAD secretary, Dr. Alireza Olyaeemanesh, Head of HERC, Dr. Amirhossein Takian, Deputy of Research at HERC and course director-Iran, Dr. Seyed Reza Majdzadeh, Head of Knowledge Translation Center, Dr. Daniel Cobos, Project leader at Swiss TPH and course director-Switzerland, Pro. de Savigny, Professor at Swiss TPH, and Pro. Shamsa Rizwan, Professor at Fazaia medical college, Pakistan, attended virtually.

Dr. Takian, as the moderator and course director, welcomed all and started the ceremony by inviting the first speaker, Dr. Alireza Olyaeemanesh who briefly introduced HERC, the center’s background and research, and warmly thanked all organizers and participants of the workshop. As the second guest, Dr. Daniel Cobos, started his speech by thanking his Iranian colleagues and wishing for continues future collaborations. He then continued by a brief introduction to the course and demonstrating Swiss TPH’s activities. As the third speaker, Dr. Majdzadeh, by drawing a map of Iranian Healthcare system proceeded to illustrate the Iranian setting’s need for such thinking methods. Dr. De Savigny’s speech, the fourth speaker and one of the world-renowned experts of systematic thinking, mainly focused on a more detailed explanation of what system thinking is and how it can be implemented to various forms of challenges. The ceremony proceeded by the Dr. Rizwan, the fifth guest, who presented Pakistan’s experiences in using Causal Loop Diagrams for implementing health information and province-based healthcare systems. The sixth speaker, Dr. Mohamadi, proceeded to elaborate the need for a systematic approach by giving examples of medical interventions. At the end and as the final guest speaker Dr. Ghanaati, after thanking workshop organizers and participants, started his speech by illustrating the value for health in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and by noting the need for putting health at the heart of all policy decision making processes and illuminating the innate complexity of healthcare systems proceeded to clarify the need for multi-sectoral collaborations in line with achieving SDGs and better health for all the population and what system thinking can contribute to such goals. The ceremony came to an end after a short Q&A session and a brief explanation of the workshop by Dr. Takian and other facilitators.