Health needs assessment: a study of a district in Tehran, Iran

To determine health needs of a population living in the Tehran's 17th municipal district and identify appropriate strategies to deal with them.

This research included 2 phases: the first phase was a qualitative study with 2 stages, focus group discussion, in-depth interview with key informants of the 17th district and expert panel methods with specialists. The second phase was a cross sectional study carried out with a closed questionnaire based on the results of phase 1.

The results of the first phase indicted that the presence of railway tracks in the 17th district was the most important problem affecting people's health status. Comparing the opinions of community leaders and health professionals with those of local residents, and study of cause-effect chain, it was obvious that with the transfer of Tehran-Tabriz railway, the major problems of this area will decrease. On the basis of this we arranged a meeting and invited officials from the municipality and railway organization to convey problems.

The findings indicated that it is possible to disseminate community-based investigations to improve public's health.