Introduction

Osku County is located in East Azerbaijan Province in the vicinity of Tabriz. It consists of three cities namely Osku, Sahand and Ilkhachi. Sahand City is in the center of Osku County. It is 20km away from southwest of Tabriz. The city was originally designed to absorb the demographic spills of Tabriz. In early 2020, the population of the city was approximately 161,000 but it had been on a consistent rise.

Sahand city is one of the new towns that is developed based on city development policies in Iran. Sahand city’s geographic location with 1600m height above sea level, has brought clean and cool air to the people. Moreover, its development process was done based on urban development principles. These specific features made Sahand as a target to implement WHO Healthy City program.

Healthy City (HC) program was launched in December 2015 with support of provincial and local authorities, Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) and WHO. 

Healthy City Structure

Healthy City program management at the provincial level was carried out by the provincial committee chaired by the political and social deputy of the governorate and with the presence of general managers of related organizations and the secretary of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The committee met every six months to review the progress of the program. At the city level, the executive structure of the program was as follows: 

HCP achievements

• Strengthening cross-sectoral collaboration to promote health
• Making health a priority in urban development policies
• Increasing  public participation in urban management, especially health issues
• Improving health and safety infrastructure in the city such as health centers, emergency and fire departments
• Health becoming a public demand
• Empowering people on various health and safety issues

HCP authorities

Dr. Seyyed Rasoul Hashemi, Oskou Health Network, Head of Scientific secretary of Sahand HC

Mrs Mayam Fathi, Sahand HC scientific Secretary officer

Eng. Mohammad Hadi Sarraf, Urban services deputy in Sahand municipality, Sahand HC executive secretary officer

Links and Contact information

East Azerbaijan, Oskou county, Oskuo Health Network

Telephone: 041-33223001

Website: https://shpc.tbzmed.ac.ir/