Establishing new health care centers in slum areas, augmenting the quality of medical services in health care centers, and elevating health knowledge among slum dwellers constitute three major strategies that should be adopted in order to combat this challenge. Conclusion Primary health care service is essential for all different social strata. However, access to and coverage of health care is dissimilar in the different areas of the Iranian province of Fars. Several Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical factors are involved in the genesis of this problem. Low accessibility to and shortage of perfect coverage of primary health care in slums areas along with inadequate health knowledge of their residents
deprive the majority of these slums’ residents of good health. Acknowledgment The authors wish to thank all the families who participated in this study. We express our sincere gratitude to all the staff members of Shiraz Health Care Center for their kind cooperation. We Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical also appreciate the Research Deputy Directorship of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences for its financial support. Conflict of Interest: None declared.
In 2003, The World Health Organization (WHO) developed The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).1 The treaty was discussed and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical adopted by the 56th World Health Assembly.1 Coming into force on February 27, 2005, the FCTC was signed by 168 countries.2 Enforcement and implementation
of the FCTC articles and assessment of its outcome requires a specifically designed system of evaluation. Hence, the WHO designed a questionnaire to evaluate the enforcement of the FCTC at the country level.3 This questionnaire is brief and mainly concerns the implementation of the FCTC policies. It is Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical usually completed by the Ministry of Health authorities.3 The largest ongoing international multicentric study to evaluate the impact of the FCTC is The International Tobacco Control Policy Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Evaluation (ITC). The ITC is a collection of prospective cohort surveys in
more than 20 check details countries to evaluate the impact and identify the determinants of effective tobacco control policies.4 Iran has also ratified the FCTC and designed The National Comprehensive Metalloexopeptidase Tobacco Control Program (NCTCP).5 The implementation of the FCTC in Iran is currently evaluated by the WHO monitoring questionnaire, and all the questions are answered by the Ministry of Health authorities.3 Given the cultural and socioeconomic differences between countries and populations and the paucity and insufficiency of the existing evaluation tools, we decided to develop process, impact, and outcome indicators based on our social mores and beliefs to evaluate the implementation of the FCTC. Materials and Methods Initially, a scientific committee was formed. Then, a literature review of the FCTC evaluation programs or studies was conducted. Also, all existing documents and circulars in Iran regarding the NCTCP and FCTC objectives were gathered.