Iran’s Ministry of Health Stops Providing Contraceptive Services

The population official at Iran’s Ministry of Health, noting that population growth has fallen below one percent and that the “population window is closing,” stated: Among the measures taken by this ministry in recent years is that it does not provide contraceptive services and has also abandoned its previous recommendation regarding a three-year gap between two children.

Hamed Barkati, director general of the Department of Population and Family Health at the Ministry of Health, said in an interview with IRNA news agency that Iran’s population growth rate has fallen below one percent for the first time and is currently at 0.96 percent.

According to Hamed Barkati, the Ministry of Health has taken measures over the past four years to increase population, including increasing infertility treatment centers from 12 centers to 44 centers.

He also stated that the provision of contraceptive services in government centers has been halted, and the previous recommendation of the Ministry of Health regarding maintaining a three to five year interval as a safe gap between pregnancies has been reduced to 18 to 24 months.

Since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, called for increasing Iran’s population, a number of health-medical services have been suspended and health-treatment policies in Iran have also changed.

Source: Radio Farda