TEHRAN -- Iran ranks 69 amongst 188 countries in health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) index from highest to lowest in 2016, according to a study conducted by The Lancet, the world’s leading independent general medical journal.

As part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016), The Lancet study measured 37 of the 50 health-related SDG indicators over the period 1990–2016 for 188 countries, and then on the basis of these past trends, that is projected indicators to 2030. According to the study, the rank of Iran has increased from 106 in 2015 to 69 in 2016.

The study explores performance on the health-related SDG index, Millennium Development Goal (MDG) index, and non-MDG index, and 37 individual health-related indicators, by country in 2016.

Indices and individual indicators are reported on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 representing the worst levels from 1990 to 2030 and 100 reflecting the best during that time.

The rank of Iran in alcohol use, vaccine coverage, and household air pollution is reported 100. 

The worst position of Iran is in road injury mortality with the point 14.

Meanwhile, Iran ranks 55 in disaster mortality, 68 in child overweight, 74 in maternal mortality ratio, 75 in HIV incidence, 87 in family planning need met with modern contraception methods, 70 in universal health coverage index, 50 in air pollution mortality, and 65 in mortality attributable to unsafe water. 

SDGs are grounded in the global ambition of “leaving no one behind”. 

Globally, the median health-related SDG index was 56•7 in 2016 and country-level performance markedly varied, with Singapore, Iceland, and Sweden having the highest levels in 2016 and Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, and Somalia recording the lowest. 

SB/MG