Satisfaction levels with family physician services: a pilot national health programme in the Islamic Republic of Iran

Family physicians in the Islamic Republic of Iran have been providing health and medical services to residents from rural areas since 2005, and from 2011 these services have been delivered to urban residents in Fars and Mazandaran provinces. This study was conducted in 2014 to measure the rate of user satisfaction with services provided by family physicians to the rural and urban population of the second most populated county in Fars province [Marvdasht county, population > 330 000]. In urban and rural areas, 1650 houses [825 in rural and 825 in urban areas] were selected, of which 1561 houses were inhabited [2908 individuals in urban and 3062 individuals in rural areas] and an interview-administered doorstep questionnaire was completed. Overall satisfaction rate was 59.2%: 54.5% for urban areas and 63.2% for rural areas. This study suggests that satisfaction is higher among rural residents and that better quality services from family physicians are needed in both rural and urban communities

Surveillance of zoonotic diseases in Marvdasht city, Fars Province

Background: Complete and fast diagnosis, registry and treatment programs are the main effective strategies for controlling infectious diseases. In addition, an organized and extended infectious disease surveillance system is crucial in designing and monitoring communicable diseases control programs. The quality of the surveillance system can be evaluated by several indices such as timeliness, completeness and sensitivity. This is an evaluation study to measure the mentioned indices for 3 zoonotic diseases [leishmaniasis, brucellosis and rabies] surveillance system

Methods: The indexes such as completeness, timeliness and sensitivity of surveillance system were measured using the data obtained from population based [door to door] interviews and recorded data obtained at each level of health and medical sectors or administrative centers within the diseases reporting system. Interviews were conducted for 5969 participants and the required information was obtained

Results: The total completeness, timeliness and sensitivity of case reporting for leishmaniasis were 26.9%, 103.2 days and 11.1%, respectively. These indexes forbrucellosiswere14.3 %, 58 days, 12.1% and those for suspected rabieswere100%, 83.4 days and 48.2%, respectively

Conclusion: It seems that so called immediate communicable diseases reporting system is not providing reliable, complete and timely information to the health authorities. Program monitoring and personnel training, especially physicians, are recommended to improve the quality of the surveillance system and the related indexes