PHA-Exch> Piot: a good organization man ? (4)

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: mohammad ali barzgar m_barzgar at hotmail.com

I have read what Alison Katz has written in regard to Disases of Poverty and
HIV/AIDS and as usual enjoyed reading Alison's point of viewes.I want to in
support of her statement to share with PHA-Exchange readers a small case
study  which I have done in a very poor urban area(Slum Area), of Amol city
in Northern part of Iran.The Amol city is a small city with a population of
about 300,000,near the Caspean Sea.The city is a well developed one,but a
part of the city called Dabbaghchal,as Slum area of the city is resided by a
group of poor people migrated from Slum area of southern part of Tehran to
Amol.

In Agust 2006 the programme of Empoverment and poverty alleviation for
sustainable development or Basic Minimum Needs (BMNs),was carried out by PHM
Iran supported financially&technically by Government differnt sectors has
extended its activities from rural areas to urban areas of Amol where 59
family with a population of 204 were studied as a pilot area of poor urban
area.The area was badly deprived of the basic necesseties like,piped
water,electricity,piped gaz,durable housing and environmental
cleanliness.The employment was the first priority of the people,because %97
of the adult men and %85 of women willing to work were jobless.Out of 50
families 16 earn less than $US 27.5 per month per family and the remaining
34 families have monthly income of about US$50-66 for a family of 4
persons.It means much less than one US$ per person/ day.

Our findings  are in support of the conclsion drawn by ALison Katz who
rightly mentioned that the Biological Vulnerability because of the poverty
is the root cause of the social ills.For example out of  204 persons
surveyed 48 were children in school age who only 16(33.4%) were attending
school and 32 (66.6%) did not attend due to poor economic situation in that
above mentioned Slum area.While school attendance in the country even in
rural areas is almost Universal for Boys and Girls.Over all Infant Mortality
in the country is 26/1000 live birth and Crude death rate 14/1000 thanks to
well established PHC Network all over the country.In that poverty striken
slum area IMR was above 100/1000 live birth and crude death rate was 64/1000
.The last finding which fully support Alison's conclusion is the high
prevalence of HIV positive rate.Out of 33 persons tested for HIV in the
health center of the city 11 persons were positive(%33.3).It must mentioned
here that the overall Hiv positive rate of the country is around 1%(one
percent).Such a sharp difference is supporting the Biological Vulnurability
which is the inevitable result of the miserable living conditions.Eventhough
our sample size was small to draw final conclsion ,but the trend of the
findings shows that poverty is the root cause of social ills and it should
be eradicated.The action required is the re-distribution of resources  and
meeting the Basic Needs of the people.Or in other word the pre-requisit for
achieving Health For All that WHO and its member States re-commited
themselves is much more than health care only,but Socio-Economic
determinants of health.If Health For All is going to be achieved ,WHO must
meet its committment this time ,hand in hand with its member States and the
world community including people of the world and not only the Ministries of
Health or Governments of  the World like before.Ofcourse the role of the
civil societies with the same slogan and mandate of Health For All through
Alma-Ata approach of Primary Health Care like PHM will be vital for the
success of WHO.
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