Road Map for Iranian Associations of Medical Sciences to Pursue By 2025

The Academy of Medical Sciences is obligated to promote scientific associations and exploit their potentials. Developing a plan to enhance their participation in policy making and planning in healthcare is the road towards achieving this goal by 2025.

This descriptive-analytical study was performed by the qualitative method. Secondary data were obtained from the analysis of upstream documents and documentation of the collective activities of the associations. Primary data were collected from the views of policy-making stakeholders through interviewing, focus group discussion and a written questionnaire from 138 academic societies. The analyzed data were classified into three sections: cognition, orientation and implementation. The assignments of this 5-year program were formulated in four departments and were reviewed by all scientific associations.

Associations were the reference point for experts in the field and had close relations to the community, and ability to legislate and to plan is one of their strengths. Lack of their role in policy making at the Ministry of Health (MOH) and lack of health system trust regarding the associations, cultural individualism in the scientific community, and weakness of team working and weakness of the associations in relation to policy makers are the top priorities of the associations to tackle.

The collective movement of the scientific community and the MOH is mandatory if we wish to achieve the first position in the region by 2025.