The workshop on financing maternal health services in the Islamic Republic of Iran within DCP3 was held on 26 June 2018 in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

The workshop started with opening remarks of Dr. Leila Joudane, UNFPA Representative. She expressed her happiness about participating in the workshop on financing maternal health services, which will pave the way for universal health coverage in Iran. She stated that the workshop is very timely, as the MOHME has embarked on the DCP3 initiative and is looking into improving efficiency of health care, particularly maternal health programmes. She introduced two international experts, Dr. Dele Abegunde and Dr. Anderson Stanciole, UNFPA APRO adviser, who are visiting Iran to support MOHME in this exercise and to look at health impact, as well as socio-economic impact of health interventions. She explained that the consultants will listen to MOHME to identify needs and to prepare a roadmap to identify the stakeholders, interventions, the steps and the timeline to achieve a costed maternal health service package.

In his welcoming speech, Dr. Ali-Akbar Haghdoust, Deputy for Coordination and Strategic Planning commended the commitment and support of international agencies to the DCP3 exercise and thanked UNFPA and WHO for their support. He mentioned that there is commitment at highest level in MOHME for DCP3. In addition, he stated that MOHME has high technical expertise in health, but that there is a need for international technical support in cost analysis. He thanked the international experts for their presence and support to optimizing maternal care interventions and stated that this expertise can be used for other areas of health as well.

Dr. Christof Hamelmann, WHO Representative in Iran, also held a speech and stated that in the recent World Health Assembly meeting countries had agreed to three goals, which are that 1 billion more people will have Universal Health Coverage, health in emergencies and will be healthier. Dr. Hamaelman stressed that maternal health is an important element in all these three goals, which is why the workshop is very relevant and timely.

The meeting continued with highly technical and engaged discussions on DCP3 and budgeting of maternal health services. The workshop was followed by technical meetings in MOHME on DCP3 maternal health.