Science and technology are the most important factors for the progress of a country. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran made strenuous efforts to compensate the backwardness of the regime of Shah and set the ground for scientific progress.
Although various sanctions and the 8-year war imposed by the US through its lackey, Saddam, slowed down the speed of scientific and technological progress in Iran, the war itself was a bounty as Imam Khomeini called it; because it forced Iranian youths to rely on the indigenous capacities and capabilities to make the country independent. Hence, numerous scientific and technological breakthroughs were put on display one after the other. As Ayatollah Khamenei stressed, “We need science, we need research. How far we advance in science it is not too much. I have been saying this for several years and thank God we have made progress.”Now, the Islamic Republic of Iran enjoys a prominent scientific position in the region and the world and in some of the sophisticated technologies which are in the monopoly of the western governments, Iran is a pioneer.
Scientific and technological progress is not possible without specialized and able forces. Hence, the Islamic Republic has embarked on expansion and deepening of education in every level since its establishment. The first step was taken by Imam Khomeini when he ordered the formation of “Literacy Movement” in the first year of founding the Islamic Republic. As a result, the literacy rate increased from 47 to over 90%. The number of schools and educational centers also has increased considerably. While there were 48 thousand schools in Pahlavi regime, this figure has increased to over 107 thousand so that 14 million students can acquire knowledge in more favorable conditions. Now, the average years of education has increased from 2.3 in 1970s to nearly 10 and most of the Iranian children are hopeful of continuing their education for 14 years. The Islamic Republic’s successes in the field of education have made the UNESCO to praise its efforts. Meanwhile, Iran’s progress in higher education has been more spectacular as the number of universities has increased more than 11 times compared with the Pahlavi regime. Currently, there are 2570 universities in Iran with 3 million and 800 thousand students studying in them; while before the Islamic Revolution there were just 170 thousand students in the universities. The eye-catching increase of Iranians with higher education has enabled the country to enjoy ample specialized and skilled workforce to accelerate development in various fields.
Scientific growth in Iran has been so high that the country stands at the 13th rank in the world. The speed of scientific growth has been 11 times more than the average global rate. The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), affiliated to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, announced that the Islamic Republic ranks first in the terms of sciences, research and inventions among Islamic nations. One of the criteria for assessment of a country’s scientific level is the articles that are published by valid scientific centers. According to the report of ISI, the number of scientific articles after the Islamic Revolution had increased more than 69 times in 2016. Last year 47 thousand Iranian documents were indexed at valid scientific centers in the world. Another outcome of giving priority to science and research is the successes of Iranian teenagers in various scientific Olympiads. Iranian students have participated in different fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer, biology, astronomy and so on. Since 1987 that the Islamic Republic attended scientific Olympiads, the representatives of Iran have garnered nearly 700 medals and have been among 10 top nations in difficult scientific exams.
Medicine is one of the indices of scientific progress of a country. The Islamic Republic of Iran has made great efforts for the betterment of the people’s health and hygiene, especially in the deprived regions. Progress in medical domain has grown 75 times more than the pre-revolution period so that the Islamic Republic of Iran ranks 17 in the world and first in West Asia. During the Pahlavi regime, there were just 10 thousand physicians and the government had to import doctors from other countries. But now this number has increased more than 12 times and there are more than 117 thousand physicians in the country. 43 thousand are general practitioners, 40 thousand are specialists or subspecialists and 20 thousand are dentists. The rest are residents or assistants. Before the Islamic Revolution, there were only 7 medical faculties with 700 students in Iran; while this figure has got to nearly 200 thousand who study in 60 universities and medical sciences faculties.
Life expectancy in Iran has increased to 77 years on average; which means 23 years more than before the Revolution. Furthermore, thanks to medical and clinical care, less than 1% of newborns die in Iran which has caused the World Health Organization to appreciate Iran twice as the most successful country in this field.
The postnatal care is also carried out seriously in Iran. Presently, vaccination coverage has reached 100% in Iran and some of the contagious diseases like infantile paralysis, measles and rubella have been uprooted. World Health Organization (WHO) has introduced the Islamic Republic as one of the most successful nations in this regard. Four decades after the Islamic Revolution, people in cities and villages have access to cheap medical services compared to the previous period. Almost every city in the country is equipped with hospital(s); whereas before the Islamic Revolution only 37% of cities had hospitals. In addition, over 20 thousand medical assistants are working in villages to boost the health of villagers. The Islamic Republic has gained the first rank in the region and the fifth rank in the world in the field of transplantation. As for bone marrow transplantation, Iran is the second country after Italy and has the third position in treatment of infertility. Moreover, Iran has attained great achievements in production of medicine so that 97% of the medicine needed in the country is made domestically. The surplus is exported to many countries. The Islamic Republic has the fourth position in Asia in production of biotechnological medicines. 29 types of these medicines have already been made in Iran. These medicines are used for curing diseases like cancer, MS and hemophilia.
In general, the Islamic Republic has reached a stage in medicine that many patients travel to Iran for treatment and in fact Iran has turned into the pole of health tourism in the region.
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