1. Population and health status:
Iran is a country located in the western part of Asia with an area of about 16480,000 square kilometers, roughly equivalent to the area of four Yunnan provinces. It is bordered by Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea to the north, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the south, and Iraq and Turkey to the west.
With a population of over 83 million, Iran is the 18th most populous country in the world. Iran's population is predominantly Persian, with more than 61% of the population being Persian. Other major ethnic groups include Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Lurs, and Arabs.
Iran's population is relatively young, with more than 60% of the population under the age of 30. It is worth noting that Iran's population increased from only 33 million in 1979 to 83 million in 2021, in just 42 years!
According to World Health Data, Iran is an upper-middle-income country like China, and the life expectancy of the two countries is relatively close. Life expectancy in Iran is 75 years for men and 77 years for women, while in China it is 75 years for men and 78 years for women. Considering that the pre-5 child mortality rate in Iran is higher than in China (15,1000 vs 9,1000), the life expectancy of people over 5 years of age in Iran may actually be higher than in China.
2. Health infrastructure.
Iran offers 12 years of free education. The education rate for young people aged 15-24 is 97 per cent, with no significant gender differences. Higher education: 1 year of pre-university and 4 years of university (including 4 types of junior college, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees), and free education in national universities. There are more than 300 institutions of higher learning in Iran (2,879 in China).
Each of Iran's 31 provinces has at least one medical university, and there are 67 in the country, and relevant data show that although the quality of medical schools may be lower due to Iran's limited financial capacity, at least it ensures the dissemination of medical knowledge. Iranian medical personnel have been educated in the West for a long time, and have established a relatively good medical system with the help of European and American countries very early. Compared with neighboring countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran's medical system can be described as "high-matched": the level of medical care is in the middle and upper reaches of the Middle East; Medical resources are relatively equitably distributed, and there is a primary health care system that can cover more than 90% of the rural population.
However, there is a key problem that Iran's medical equipment is old, 97% of Iran's drugs are locally manufactured, but one-third of the raw materials needed to produce drugs rely on imports, and the basic drugs needed for rare diseases, chronic diseases, various cancers, blood diseases, etc. are completely imported. Iran is more dependent on imports for medical devices. Under the US sanctions, you can't buy new equipment and can only use old equipment.
3. Medical services and medical system.
In Iran, the largest healthcare delivery network is achieved by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME) through its network of health institutions and medical schools owned and operated throughout the country. Mohme's tasks include the provision of health services, health insurance, medical education, monitoring and regulating the national health system, policy formulation, production and distribution of medical drugs, and research and development. In addition, other parallel institutions, such as the Medical Services Insurance Organizations (MSIO), have been established as relief** and health insurance companies. Some hospitals, such as the Mahak Hospital for Childhood Cancer, run through charities.
An extensive network of public clinics provides low-cost primary health care services. In rural areas, each village or group of villages has a "health room" staffed by community health workers who are trained in preventive medicine such as nutrition, family planning, blood pressure measurement, antenatal care, vaccination, environmental monitoring (e.g. water quality checks, etc.). Each clinic has examination rooms and dormitories, and is staffed by one man, one woman (or more than one woman), all recruited locally. These clinics are the first point of contact between the general population and the healthcare system. People with more complex diseases are referred to rural health centers staffed with doctors, technicians, and administrators. There are similar primary health care posts in urban areas.
More than 90% of Iran's population has health insurance,** and achieving universal health care by 2018 is a priority, but many difficulties remain, including economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the United Nations,** budgetary issues, resource sustainability, service delivery, and medical ethics and governance that need to be overcome. In general, health insurance covers 70% of the cost of covered drugs and 90% of the cost of public hospitals, with additional coverage for people suffering from rare diseases or remote areas.
4. Medical market.
In May 2018, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear issue, and subsequently restarted and imposed a series of additional sanctions on Iran, impacting Iran's national economy and people's livelihood. Iran's access to imported medicines, equipment and other medical supplies has been severely hampered. "Everything in the medical industry has been adversely affected by sanctions. Mariam, the head of the operating room at a hospital in Tehran, said.
It is not difficult to find in the coding classification of medical device products exported by China to Iran that disposable consumables and massage and health care products are the main export products, and there are relatively few high-end medical devices with high technology content and high added value. Taking ultrasound and X-ray equipment as an example, the development of import substitution in China is in full swing, and the IVD industry is also realizing the process of covering low-end to high-end products. For the Iranian market, how to improve the reputation and market recognition of domestic high-end medical device products through good interaction and corresponding promotion strategies is very helpful to open the window for Iran to purchase domestic high-end medical devices.
In April 2015, Iran's Economy** (Persian edition) reported that Iran has 10 major industries that are highly attractive for investment, including the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. According to the World Economic Forum, Iran ranks 74th among the 140 most competitive countries and regions in the world. In the World Bank's Doing Business report, Iran ranks 118th out of 189 economies.
With the resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue, Iran's medical device market will surely show a stable growth with the recovery of Iran's national economy, and Iran has a very strong will to develop in all aspects of the national economy. With the development of drugs and consumables medical devices, there will also be a window of increased demand for medical diagnostic equipment. However, in the turbulent regional political environment in the Middle East, domestic enterprises must pay sufficient attention to the obstacles to business activities, such as financing difficulties, policy instability, serious inflation, inefficiency and poor infrastructure, and the corresponding problems of the return of funds from the US economic and financial sanctions.
When entering the Iranian market, companies should pay attention to: in-depth knowledge and inquire about the business coverage and capabilities of local partners or distributors. It is important to have the ability to cover not only Tehran, but also the rest of the country and neighboring countries, not only businessally, but preferably logistics infrastructure, because the cost and time of transactions outside Tehran will increase significantly; Although US sanctions have now been lifted temporarily, some banks still refuse to use the US dollar for the return of funds, and the euro is the preferred Iranian currency. So the money can be recovered from Iran through the company's European subsidiary or through the UAE. Many businesses in Iran are done in cash, and credit cards are rarely used; In addition, good relationships are important locally, and meaningful business relationships need to be nurtured through face-to-face meetings.
5. The best way to develop the Iranian medical market.
The "25th Iran International Medical Expo 2024 IRAN Health" in Tehran, Iran, May 18-21, 2024. Iran Health is the most famous and largest medical exhibition in Iran. Every year, Iran** invests in the field of medical equipment, and almost all medical research institutions and hospital procurement departments, doctors and personnel engaged in medical research in Iran will visit the exhibition in person to seek cooperation and business opportunities.
A total of 550 enterprises from countries and regions participated in the previous exhibition. The exhibition area reached 23,000 square meters, and about 40,000 medical professionals from Germany, the United States, Brazil, Canada, China, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Taiwan and other medical professionals came to visit the exhibition.
During the conference, we will invite to visit embassies, the Ministry of Health, the Drug Administration, the ** Development Bureau, medical associations, hospitals, etc. Accurately understand the market status and development of Iran's pharmaceutical and medical industry, the relevant foreign preferential policies of medicine and medical care, the introduction and cooperation of applied technology and equipment, the latest Iranian market, policies and cooperative projects, etc., establish first-class cooperative relations and accumulate network resources.
Invite the heads of pharmaceutical and medical equipment production enterprises, pharmaceutical medical institutions, hospitals, pharmaceutical raw materials, Chinese herbal medicine deep processing enterprises, pharmaceutical equipment import and export business service institutions, industry associations, and competent departments to focus on economic and trade negotiations, product procurement, product development, and implementation of international development and market cooperation of new technologies for medical products.