TEHRAN –Health ministry is planning to improve nutrition literacy among people in rural communities to address nutritional health concerns in these regions.

Despite the high quality of food in rural areas, the lack of nutritional knowledge, which affects the choice of food for consumption, has highly affected the people, Mehr news agency quoted Ahmad Esmaeilzadeh, an official with health ministry as saying,

Malnutrition, in all its forms, including undernutrition (wasting, stunting, underweight), inadequate vitamins or minerals, overweight, and obesity occurs among children in rural areas because some parents are ignorant about children’s nutrition, the official noted.

The prevalence of diabetes, high blood fat, and hypertension in villages is the second reason that necessitates the need for nutrition experts, he added.

The official went on to say that some 350 nutrition experts will start their work in rural areas by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2025).

The nutrition experts will promote nutrition literacy and consequently the health of people in villages, the official added. 

It is essential to raise people’s knowledge and awareness and train them to take care of themselves and prevent from obesity and disease by eating healthy food and taking enough calories, as well as exercising for half an hour per day. 

Rural family physician program

Approximately, 7,000 physicians are participating in the implementation of the Family Physician Program in rural areas, an official with the health insurance organization has said.

The rural family physician program started in 2005. Back then, it targeted villages and cities with a population of less than 20,000 individuals to make treatment referrals more concentrated and provide more convenient access to health services, ISNA quoted Masoud Mashayekhi as saying.

Highlighting that over 20 million Iranians are covered by the rural family physician program, Mashayekhi said medical, dental, mental, midwifery, nutrition, laboratory, pharmaceutical, and medical imaging services are being offered.

Over 7,000 physicians, 5,662 midwives, as well as 1,893 dentists, and dental hygienists are providing services in 4,287 medical centers, he noted.

In the current Iranian year that began on March 20, the program has expanded to include mental health and nutrition experts to further address the needs of rural families.

Targeting almost 25,000,000 citizens residing in rural areas, the Family Physician Program was piloted in two provinces of Fars and Mazandaran in 2005.

Periodic examinations and monitoring of people’s health status, easy and round-the-clock access to basic services and primary care, and frequent visits to doctors are the characteristics of a family physician.

Based on the Family Physician Program, a physician and a midwife offer services in rural areas, every 3,300 villagers have a physician and there is a midwife per 5,200 people in villages.

The implementation of the Family Physician Program in urban areas began in June 2012 in Fars and Mazandaran provinces. Reducing out-of-pocket payments has been an important effect and benefit of the urban family physician program.

The Family Physician Program has made treatment referrals more concentrated and improved the interactions between doctors and healthcare providers.

In September 2023, former Health Minister Bahram Einollahi described the Family Physician Program as the most important priority of the ministry for the next two years.

“This program is a basic measure which, in case of being properly formed, will solve many problems of the health system,” Einollahi said, IRNA reported.

MT/MG