TEHRAN - According to the Times Higher Education ranking system for 2015 to 2021, a majority of the scientific works of Iran have been produced to achieve the goals of sustainable development in the field of health and well-being.

The monitoring of scientific and technological productions is important for policy-making and planning at the macro level and sustainable development, Ahmad Fazelzadeh, head of the Islamic World Science Citation Database (ISC), said.

The Sustainable Development Goals are a set of 17 global goals designed to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, IRNA quoted Fazelzadeh as saying.

These goals were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a global call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity, he added.

“Due to the importance of these goals, the Times ranking system evaluates and ranks universities at different levels every year, presents a ranking called Impact Rankings, and ranks universities in the world based on their participation in achieving development goals.”

The number of scientific works and the position of the Islamic Republic of Iran based on the scientific documents indexed in the topics of sustainable development goals in the Web of Science database from 2015, when these goals were approved by the United Nations until 2022 have been reviewed, he explained.

The status of Iran in the Web of Science database for the period of 2015-2022 is as follows: clean water goals ranked 5th, affordable and clean energy ranked 13th, eradicating hunger ranked 14th, cities and sustainable societies ranked 15th, responsible consumption and production ranked 17th, health and wellness ranked 18th and climate change and gender equality ranked 19th.

“In the period from 2015 to 2022, among the 17 goals of sustainable development, the most scientific works were in 2021, and based on these documents, the best rank of the country was also achieved in the same year, which was 16th. Also, in 2022, Iran ranked 17th in the world by publishing 48,156 scientific documents.”

Health Minister Bahram Einollahi has said many countries in the region are asking Iran for help with issues related to health.

Emphasizing that all diseases are currently treated in the country, the minister added: “With the help of scientists, we were able to educate efficient human resources,” ISNA reported.

“With the efforts that have been made during the 44 years after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, today we have the strongest health system in the region in such a way that the health indicators in the Islamic Republic are far ahead of other countries in the region.”

All the indicators of health and treatment have made significant progress after the Islamic Revolution, and now Iran is one of the leading countries in this field, Saeed Karimi, the deputy health minister has said.

Health is one of the areas that got a good jump after the Islamic Revolution, ISNA quoted Karimi as saying.

It should be noted that in the early years of the Revolution, even for a cataract, which is a routine ophthalmic operation, the patient was sent abroad, but now patients from abroad come to Iran for the most advanced surgeries, he highlighted.

“At the beginning of the Revolution, there were just 56,000 hospital beds, but now we have 156,000 hospital beds,” he noted.

Meanwhile, there were just seven thousand specialists, but now there are 70 thousand specialists and sub-specialists in the country, he added.

In June 2021, Ahmed al-Mandhari, the World Health Organization director for Eastern Mediterranean Region, said the Islamic Republic of Iran is a role model for primary health care.

For the past four decades, its PHC network has aimed to ensure that people have timely access to affordable, accessible, and acceptable essential health services, he explained.

In October 2021, World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Iran Jaffar Hussain, said that Iran's health system can be a model for other countries in the region, especially in the field of health and the use of valuable forces such as healthcare providers.

The national budget bill for the current Iranian calendar year 1402, which started on March 21, has increased the health sector’s budget by 29 percent compared to the current year’s budget.

MG