Time for more evidence: a scoping review of the effects of sanctions on Iranian health

Abstract Background Islamic Republic of Iran has been the target of massive sanctions since 1979, which got intensified in 2005, 2012, and also in 2015 following JCPOA cancellation. Long-term economic sanctions have impacted Iran’s health system. The aim of this study is to examine the impact of sanctions on health system in Iran, and Iranian people’s health. Methods A scoping review was performed. PubMed/Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and Scientific Information Database were searched from 2012 using the sanction, health and Iran keywords to find the studies that examined the impacts of sanctions on health in Iran. After screening, only original studies, namely studies which collected data through experiments, surveys, observation, interviews, or review of the literature were included, and letters to the editors and secondary reports were excluded. Final listings of articles were supplemented with hand searches of reference listings to ensure completeness. Data on study characteristics and the impacts of sanctions on health were extracted and summarized. Result The preliminary search has identified 273 documents among which 11 articles had the eligibility criteria to be included. They showed remarkable effects of sanctions on access to medicines for the treatment of cancers, non-communicable diseases, asthma, epilepsy, addiction, and hemophilia. Conclusion While there is a scarcity of evidence in quantifying the sanction’s impact and also the potential impact on different dimensions of people’s health, it seems that innocent people suffered from the economic downturn caused by sanction. The exact impact of sanctions on different health related areas could be the subject of further studies. Furthermore, more vigorous monitoring and evaluation systems are needed to investigate the effects of sanctions on health outcomes and system to be sure that they do not violate people’s fundamental human right to health.