For the second time, Kohanshahr Maragheh hosted officials of the Education and Health Promotion Office of the Ministry of Health and consultants from the World Health Organization to visit the Maragheh Healthy City Program.

Maragheh is trying to establish a good governance for health in this city by implementing the Healthy City Plan.

The inter-sectoral cooperation of organizations, emphasis on developing strategic and operational plans, increasing health literacy and empowering people, emphasizing people's participation in developing and implementing health-oriented policies are the main elements of the healthy city program in Maragheh.

According to the planned program, a number of health-oriented projects, including Maragheh City Traffic Park, Ishrat Abad Canal Improvement Project, Amir Kabir Park under construction, Sahand Health Center, Golestan Addiction Center, and Shahid Amirabi Health Promoting School, are subject to field investigation by evaluators and relevant officials.

Next, a meeting hosted by the governor of Maragheh city was held as the supreme supervisor of the Healthy City Plan.

In this meeting, Dr. Dawood Asadian, the governor of Maragheh City, pointed out the participation and empathy of all department officials in achieving physical, mental and social health goals.

Mr. Ali Azizi, the social political deputy of the governorate, also announced the readiness of all the seven specialized committees to implement the international pre-assessment in March of this year.

Dr. Arjmand, the head of the Faculty of Medical Sciences, considered the effective role of donors in promoting welfare and health in achieving the goals of the Maragheh Healthy City Plan.

The heads and secretaries of the seven specialized committees continued to present the results of the self-evaluation of the committees under their responsibility.

Dr. Hossein Akbarian, the head of Education, pointed out the growing trend in the number of health rooms and sports spaces in Maragheh schools.

Mr. Mohammad Baqer Ghafari, the head of the Red Crescent Society of the city, considered the role of the crisis management committee of Maragheh Healthy City Plan effective in hosting provincial and national exercises and training courses to deal with risks.

Dr. Elaha Haq Goshai, the vice president of health of the faculty, also pointed out that Maragheh is a leader in the implementation of the national Diabetes and Blood Pressure Screening Campaign and the cooperation of the members of the health development committee in the implementation of this campaign.

According to the report of Mr. Hossein Saniei, the head of the welfare department, the process of providing training courses to deal with the social harms of the city has increased due to the efforts of the Social Harm Reduction and Prevention Committee in Maragheh.

Colonel Kiwani announced the purchase of 45 traffic control cameras and the increase in the participation of members of the accident and traffic accident reduction committee in the geometric correction of accident-prone routes and intersections.

Dr. Shahram Morovati, Deputy Finance Minister of Maragheh Municipality, introduced the construction of a 3000 square meter recycling hall as one of the effective measures being implemented by the Healthy Public Places Committee of the Healthy City Plan.

Dr. Abbas Behrouzi, the head of public relations of the faculty and the head of the Documentation Committee of the Healthy City Plan, is also responsible for compiling the three-month operational plans of the mentioned committee in interaction with the public relations of the departments, media, broadcasting and news agencies in line with the production and dissemination of news and educational contents of the city program.

Dr. Alireza Moghisi, the expert in charge of the health education and promotion office, while expressing his satisfaction with the actions of the specialized committees, introduced Maragheh's healthy city Plan as a clear example of the implementation of health in all policies.

In the continuation of this meeting, Dr. Rahim Taghizadeh from the office of the World Health Organization stated that the biggest strength of the Maragheh Healthy City Plan is the participation of all organizations in the implementation of this program and the placement of health in the decision-making center of the city of Maragheh. World Health Organization representatives will be in Maragheh during the pre-evaluation phase of the Maragheh Healthy City Plan in March of this year.

Dr. Kordshakri from the World Health Organization office in Iran, while thanking the effective activities of the Secretariat of the Safe and Safe City Program of Maragheh in collaboration with government organizations and non-governmental organizations, introduced the Safe City of Maragheh program as a model for the implementation of this program in other cities of the country.

Dr. Jafar Sadegh Tabrizi, head of the Management Research Center of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, said that Maragheh's Healthy City Plan is a community-oriented program based on public participation.

Dr. Muhammad Mushtari, a member of the Self-Assessment Group of the Maragheh Healthy City Plan, considered receiving the international certificate of Healthy City as a very appropriate and rewarding opportunity along with "Maragheh Day" which will lead to sustainable urban development and the improvement of Maragheh's cultural communication level in the international arena.

At the end of this meeting, Dr. Sedigheh Salavati, faculty member of Maragheh University of Medical Sciences and the secretary of the Maragheh Healthy and Safe City Plan who is in charge of the scientific and executive supervision of the plan at the city level, said: All the specialized committees developed their operational plans with the approach of inter-sectoral cooperation and during the past weeks they carried out a self-evaluation of their performance for the past two years and the results of this self-evaluation will be the basis of the committees' actions during the fourth quarter of the year.  

Maragheh is the only city in Iran with the characteristics of an old city and a cosmopolis city, which follows the format of a healthy city and safe society program. Protection of wealth and possessions, along with proper regeneration by promoting health in all aspects, is a prominent feature of the Healthy City Program in Maragheh.

Maragheh Healthy and Safe City Plan started in January 2017 under the supervision of Maragheh special city governor and its secretariat is located in the head department of Maragheh Medical Sciences Faculty.