Equity in access to health care for children: Domestic implementation of the international human rights law in Iran

Achieving equity in access to health care requires the provision of social, physical, and economically accessible health services for the entire population. The aim of this article is to characterize laws and policies regarding the right of access to health care for children in Iran and to identify the extent to which these entitlements are congruent with human rights standards of nondiscrimination. In Iran, the constitution and national laws guarantee equity of all the people in the enjoyment of the right to health but access of some children groups, such as poor and illegal migrants, to health services is not equitable. To solve the problem, barriers to equal access to health services in laws and practice should be eliminated and immediate measures should be adopted for identifying disadvantaged children and improving their access to health care.