PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Mehdi Aloosh
AU  - Yashar Saghai
TI  - Birth control policies in Iran: a public health and ethics perspective
AID  - 10.1136/jech-2015-205572
DP  - 2016 Jun 01
TA  - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
PG  - 529--533
VI  - 70
IP  - 6
4099  - http://jech.bmj.com/content/70/6/529.short
4100  - http://jech.bmj.com/content/70/6/529.full
SO  - J Epidemiol Community Health2016 Jun 01; 70
AB  - In less than one generation, a unique demographic transition has taken place in Iran. A population growth rate of 4.06% in 1984 fell to 1.15% in 1993 and a total fertility rate of 6.4 births per woman in 1984 declined to 1.9 in 2010. In 2012, Iranian policymakers shifted away from a birth control policy towards a pro-natalist policy. At first glance, this may seem reasonable since its goal is to avoid the consequences of an aging population. However, we argue that the policy package raises serious public health, socioeconomic, environmental and ethical concerns and is likely to fail on its own terms.