Iran introduces free maternity care to encourage childbirth
Iran’s health minister says free maternity services will be offered to all pregnant women in the country as part of government’s efforts to encourage childbirth.
Bahram Einollahi said on Saturday that a health ministry committee will incur costs related the maternal care and child delivery for all Iranian women.
Einollahi said the policy has been adopted to encourage childbirth in Iran as he said the country has been facing a negative growth rate in childbirth in recent years.
“(That) is not good for the country as our future needs dynamic and energetic youth,” he was quoted by the IRIB News.
The minister said that free maternity care will also cover those families who have not paid into an insurance scheme in recent years.
Iran has introduced various schemes, including free housing and cheap bank loans, to encourage childbirth.
That comes as figures by the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) show that childbirth rate fell to one of its lowest in decades in the year to March 2021 when the government agency put the fertility rate per woman at 1.6, down 0.2 points compared to the year before that.
Einollahi said the government had also approved to pay for up to 90% of the costs of infertility care for Iranian women.
Experts believe financial help to couples could encourage childbirth in Iran as the country has struggled economically in recent years both because of US sanctions and the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Iran’s population is estimated to reach 95.278 million in 2036 considering current SCI forecast about a slow growth in population.
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