Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic Of Iran

en Response-oriented measuring inequalities in Tehran: second round of Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART-2), concepts and framework Epidemiology Epidemiology Study Protocol Study Protocol Background: Current evidence consistently confirm inequalities in health status among socioeconomic groups, gender, ethnicity, geographical area and other social determinants of health (SDH), which adversely influence health of the population. SDH refer to a wide range of factors not limited to social component, but also involve economic, cultural, educational, political or environmental problems. Measuring inequalities, improving daily living conditions, and tackling inequitable distribution of resources are highly recommended by international SDH commissioners in recent years to ‘close the gaps within a generation’. To measure inequalities in socio-economic determinants and core health indicators in Tehran, the second round of Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART-2) was conducted in November 2011, within the main framework of WHO Centre for Health Development (Kobe Centre).<o:p /> Method: For ‘assessment’ part of the project, 65 indicators in six policy domains namely ‘physical and infrastructure’, ‘human and social’, ‘economic’, ‘governance’, ‘health and nutrition’, and also ‘cultural’ domain were targeted either through a population based survey or using routine system. Survey was conducted in a multistage random sampling, disaggregated to 22 districts and 368 neighborhoods of Tehran, where data of almost 35000 households (118000 individuals) were collected. For ‘response’ part of the project, widespread community based development (CBD) projects were organized in all 368 neighborhoods, which are being undertaken throughout 2013.<o:p /> Conclusion: Following the first round of Urban HEART project in 2008, the second round was conducted to track changes over time, to institutionalize inequality assessment within the local government, to build up community participation in ‘assessment’ and ‘response’ parts of the project, and to implement appropriate and evidence-based actions to reduce health inequalities within all neighborhoods of Tehran.<o:p /> Health inequality, Urban HEART, Social determinants of health, Community based development. 236 248 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-603&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mohsen Asadi-Lari asadilari@iums.ac.ir 20031947532846009019 20031947532846009019 Yes Department of Epidemiology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mohammad Reza Vaez-Mahdavi vaezmahdavi@shahed.ac.ir 20031947532846009020 20031947532846009020 No Department of Physiology, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran. Soghrat Faghihzadeh faghihz@modares.ac.ir 20031947532846009021 20031947532846009021 No Medical School, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Bahman Cherghian cheraghian2000@yahoo.com 20031947532846009022 20031947532846009022 No Department of Internal Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Alireza Esteghamati 20031947532846009023 20031947532846009023 No Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Ali Asghar Farshad fdgir@yahoo.com 20031947532846009024 20031947532846009024 No Department of Occupational Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mehdi Golmakani golmakani@yahoo.com 20031947532846009025 20031947532846009025 No Department of Health, Municipality of Tehran, Iran. Ali-Asghar Haeri-Mehrizi haeri.stat@gmail.com 20031947532846009026 20031947532846009026 No Health Metrics Research Center, Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research, ACECR, Tehran, Iran. Hossein Hesari hessari@mappi.helsinki.fi 20031947532846009027 20031947532846009027 No Department of Oral Public Health, School of Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Naser Kalantari nkalantari1334@gmail.com 20031947532846009028 20031947532846009028 No Department of Community Nutrition, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Mohammad Kamali kamali@mkamali.com 20031947532846009029 20031947532846009029 No Rehabilitation Research Centre, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Ramin Kordi ramin_kordi@tums.ac.ir 20031947532846009030 20031947532846009030 No Sports Medicine Research Centre, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Hossein Malek-Afzali malekafzali@tums.ac.ir 20031947532846009031 20031947532846009031 No Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Ali Montazeri montazeri@acecr.ac.ir 20031947532846009032 20031947532846009032 No Mental Health Research Group, Health Metrics Research Center, Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research, ACECR, Tehran, Iran. Maziar Moradi-Lakeh mazmoradi@yahoo.com 20031947532846009033 20031947532846009033 No Department of Community Medicine, Medical School, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.