Integrating Asthma Care into Iran’s Primary Clinics

Iran has a wide network of public health centers and hospitals. In 2019, the government decided to add asthma services into this system and tested it in a pilot program. The main workers were primary health care providers (PHCPs) and family doctors who had to spot asthma cases and manage them. The pilot ran from November 2019 to April 2020 in seven regions: Kerman, Maragheh, Ahvaz, Kashan, Urmia, Karun and Qazvin. These places included both cities and villages and covered about one million people. During the trial, PHCPs examined 350, 894 people to find asthma. Only 2. 48 % of those checked turned out to be possible asthma cases. The team measured several key steps: how many people were screened (34 % of the target), how many referred patients actually saw a doctor (83 %), and how many confirmed cases kept up with follow‑up visits (49 %).

The results show that raising the number of people who get screened and making sure PHCPs correctly identify asthma are the best ways to make care work better. If more patients get checked early, they can start treatment sooner and avoid complications. The pilot proves that putting asthma care into everyday health services is doable. It also shows that early detection and better coordination between staff can improve outcomes. These findings give policymakers evidence to plan resources and possibly roll out the program nationwide.

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