Reproductive health in the recent disasters of Iran: A management perspective

Abstract

Background: Natural disasters represent critical threats to the health, safety, and well-being of a community - including reproductive health, which has been neglected in disaster-stricken regions. The current study was undertaken to explore administrative issues related to post-disaster reproductive health systems in Iran. Methods: A qualitative approach using in-depth unstructured interviews was applied to explore the administrative issues of reproductive health systems in the affected regions. A total of 22 participants were interviewed using the purposeful sampling method. Data were collected in three provinces: East Azerbaijan, Bushehr, and Mazandaran. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using the conventional content analysis. Results: Six categories of management issues of reproductive health in disasters were extracted from data. These categories were: ignoring cultural factors, lack of planning, lack of training, insufficient data collection, ignoring male reproductive health, and lack of monitoring systems. Conclusion: Different challenges to reproductive health management that emerged from the research should be considered and included in reproductive health plans and policies in disaster-affected regions in Iran. Involving community in all processes of providing reproductive health services, from planning to monitoring, is highly suggested.