New results regarding trends in Iranian women's health and a comparison with WHO data

Half of the world's population consists of women, who play important roles in cultural formation and education, maintain and promote households and their health, and consequently affect the community. In a general sense, women's health may be an important cornerstone for the formation of a healthy community. In developing countries, 67% of women work in the agriculture sector and produce 55% of the food products throughout the world. In East Asian countries, which have the highest level of cloth and furniture export, 74% of workers are women. Due to these considerations, we assessed women's health indicators in Iran. We reviewed health information from national health reports, including two national health surveys conducted in 1991 and 2009 with a sample size of 1/1,000 of the Iranian population, the 2000 Iran Demographic and Health Survey, and all published indices that were calculated in 2006 or later. The most important finding was that the maternal mortality rate decreased from 54 per 100,000 live births in 1991 to 37.4 per 100,000 live births in 1997. It decreased further to 24.7 per 100,000 live births in 2006. The Millennium Development Goal is 18-22 per 100,000 live births in 2015.