The book titled “Evaluating Efficiency of the Healthcare System of the Islamic Republic of Iran” has been composed and published by the Health Equity Research Center

The healthcare system, like and other system of the society, is obligated to provide specific services aligned with the resources that it is allocated; but one of the main factors that decide quantity, quality, and the type of these services are the availability and accessibility of resources. Considering the variety of the needed resources and their limitations, the ever increasing demand for medical services and the rapid technological advancements, managing and planning to effectively allocate these limited resources will naturally become a complicated yet a very critical task. According to the up-stream policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME), as the main leader of the healthcare system, has been obliged to increase service quality and improve public health trough active planning, effective utilization of resources, and evaluation of efficiency of the implemented plans, and prevent waste.

Considering the importance of measuring efficiency in the healthcare system and the status of inequities in our country, Health Equity Research Center affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences, has conducted a national research project entitled “Measuring the efficiency of the health system, studying the causes of inefficiency and suggesting practical solutions to improve the efficiency of the healthcare system of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” After discovering the roots of inefficiency in the system, this national project –that was conducted by an order from the MoHME, during 3 years, and by the assistance of more than 30 experts of the health system– thoroughly discussed and presented policy implications for the top most important ones.

This book, that is one of the accomplished out puts of this national project, has been composed in 7 chapters, each discussing the most important findings of one of the sub-projects, and after the illustrations presents policy solutions for the improvement of the system. We hope that publishing this book would become a key step in facing the fundamental an key roots of inefficiency in each part of the health system and would help improve the overall health of the population.

Those interested in acquiring the book may download the PDF version from the link down below.