Health and Hygiene

Iranwire – In a surprising addition to his first address to the United Nations via a heavily-edited video this week, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi took the opportunity to declare: “Iran is the medical hub of Asia”. “Iran,” he intoned, “alongside its peaceful nuclear and satellite science, is the medical hub of Asia, and Iranian physicians and scientists such as [medieval Persian polymath] Abu Ali …

RFL/RE – Authorities in Tehran have approved use of the coronavirus vaccine produced by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson as Iran faces a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections. “The Johnson & Johnson single-dose corona vaccine has been approved,” Mohammad Reza Shanehsaz, head of Iran’s Food and Drug Administration, said on September 16. Shanehsaz said the Russia-developed single-shot Sputnik Light …

Iranwire – A message makes sense in context: we analyze and understand it based on the message itself, and on the background information we have to hand. But when no context is available – or provided – then we can misunderstand a message or it can even become meaningless. We see this often now because of social media. Many users publish posts …

Iranwire – More than 1,500 people are dying every day from Covid-19, in stark contrast to Iran’s official figures, a member of Iran’s parliamentary health committee has said. Official statistics put the number of daily deaths between 400 and 500, but Masoud Pezeshkian says the actual figure is more than 1,500. On Tuesday, September 14, a group of doctors criticized the …

Iranwire – Nurses are at increasingly high risk of attempting suicide, a recent study has revealed. Iran’s Psychology and Counseling Organization reported that, according to research carried out in hospitals in the city of Malayer in Hamadan province, more than 38 percent of nurses feel suicidal and or have considered taking their own lives. Speaking on Friday, September 10, Fariborz Taj, a member …

Iranwire – As the Covid-19 death toll rises in Iran, people aged between 40 and 60 are most at risk, an infectious disease expert in Tehran has warned. The number of people over 60 getting the vaccine in Iran has increased in recent weeks, meaning middle-aged Iranians are dying from Covid-19 more than any other age group. In an interview with …

Iranwire – Both Iranian citizens and the media are – again – reporting widespread closures at health centers due to shortages of Covid-19 vaccines. But the Islamic Republic’s official figures imply the nationwide vaccination drive has sped up. “Today, September 2, all the vaccination hubs in western Tehran were closed because they had no vaccines,” tweeted the journalist Zahra Arab. “People were desperate. They …

Al-monitor – One of the legitimate criticisms made about the previous administration in Iran — not just by politically motivated conservative politicians in the country, but also by the general public — is that numerous promises were made about vaccines, both about their production and import, yet those promises gave mostly false hope to Iranians. Now, just one month into …

Al-Monitor – Iran is continuing to be hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and officials fear it is only a matter of time before another powerful variant — possibly even a home-grown one — will follow the Delta variant and further devastate the country. “Given the ongoing situation, and the vast spread of the virus, it is not too much to assert that …

RFL/RE – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says the country is “seriously lagging behind” in certain social and economic areas and the government must act to “improve people’s livelihoods” as the country grapples with a surge in coronavirus cases.Speaking on August 26 at the start of his first cabinet meeting since the government was approved by parliament a day earlier, Raisi acknowledged that …