The two-day “Health Equity Assessment Toolkit” International workshop was held by Health Equity Research Center (HERC) affiliated with the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, June 22-23, 2021

According to reports from the SDH Research Network’s public relation, the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit workshop held by the Health Equity Research Center (HERC) affiliated with the Tehran university of Medical Sciences (TUMS) in cooperation with the WHO’s office in Tehran, Iran and the office in Geneva, Switzerland; the Secretariat of the SDH Research Network; TUMS’s Medical History and Ethics Research Center; and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education’s (MoHME) Office of International Affairs is in progress virtually.

On the first day of the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit workshop, which is attended by 45 members of SDH research centers across the country, representatives of MoHME and WHO’s office in Iran, and representatives of more than 30 medical universities, and during its Opening session Dr. Amirhossein Takian, HERC’s deputy for research as the moderator, welcomed all and briefly noted workshop’s aims. The session continued with a speech from Dr. Alireza Olyaeemanesh, HERC’s Director and the Secretary of SDH Research Network, explaining equity and inequities in health and introducing the secretariat of the SDH Research Network. The next speech was delivered by Dr. Syed Jaffar Hussain, WHO’s representative in Iran, covering workshop’s subjects and their importance for the health system. The concluding speech was given by Dr. Bagher Larijani, SDH Research Networks Head and director of TUMS’s Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Institute, through which he pointed out the vital role of SDH, their share in health policy, and illustrated Iran’s achievements in this field in previews decades.

The workshop proceeded to its second phase afterwards and Dr. Ahmad Hosseinpoor, from the main office of WHO in Geneva, as the main instructor of the workshop and one of the key designers of the Toolkit, along with four of his colleagues initiated the workshop giving lectures on subjects such as basics and definitions of health inequities, indicators, analysis and assessment methodologies, and a brief introduction to the Toolkit and its features. The second day of the workshop shall continue today, 23rd of June, and is set to end after a short ceremony at 17.00pm.