Journal of School of Public Health and

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 Background and Aim: Definition of World Health Organization 1948 for Health includes social domain which two other domains of health, physical and mental, have counter effects on it. Quantity and quality of an individual relation to community in order to improve population welfare is a definition for social health. Social capital and security improvement and reduction of impoverishment and inequity is the impact of this relation and it's opposite side is increasing social problems. In this article, by reviewing social health situation of Iranian community and analysis of it's determinants, improvement strategies have been provided and role of Ministry of Health and Medical Education(MOHME) proposed.

 Materials and Methods : This is a descriptive and analytic study A conceptual framework were described based on a nationally committed definition of social health and used for description and analysis. Secondary data of reviewing existing research and documents were utilized for situational analysis Focus group discussion of steering/stakeholder committee members and review of the best evidences and international experiences made analysis and proposed interventions.

  Results: The evidences show that average increasing rate of social problems during recent years is 15% annually. Albeit, it is not possible to draw the increasing or decreasing trend of social health indices precisely since past 2 decades due to the lake of surveillance system. Several social problem reduction and social health improvement interventions are running by organization but, inadequate sensitivity of responsible persons, not to evaluate the current interventions, inadequate utilization and coverage of population from primary level preventive services, inappropriate selection of essential interventions, allocation of most available resources to tertiary level of prevention(after harm services), weakness of activity implementation system and intersectoral collaboration for executing interventions, disintegration of social health related financial resources and inadequate sensitivity and competencies of people in combating to social problems and risks are obstacle to effective interventions in improving social health indices. Economical, political, international and technological big changes should be added to these reasons.

  Conclusion: Social health progress will not be achieved without intersecotral collaboration Improvement of existing situation is not under duties and responsibilities of MOHME, so proposed direction including vision, strategic objectives and interventions, for social health should be implemented partially by MOHME Remaining parts required advocacy to be done by other sectors. It is essential that the proposed program be approved in health policy council of MOHME for implementation of this direction and achieving to it's objectives and then be approved by health and food security high council and social council of country after that the intersectoral collaboration agreements of social health improvement should be supervised deeply.

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  Background and Aim: Health-risk behaviors are socially constructed and influenced by the given culture. Therefore, the health-risk behaviors are prioritized differently in diverse cultures. In this study, we aimed to explore the priority of health risk behaviors among high school students in Tehran.

  Materials and Methods : In this qualitative study using rapid assessment approach, we interviewed 130 individuals who voluntarily participated in the focus group discussions (FGDs, n=17). They were students (n=9 FGDs), the parents (n=5 FGDs), and the teachers (n=3 FGDs). Four of the principals were individually interviewed. Interviews focused on (1) perceptions about and description of healthy or unhealthy behaviors (2) priority of health risk behaviors in adolescents (3) perceptions and beliefs about the formation of the risk behaviors among adolescents. All sessions were embarked on the public schools located in the area five in West Tehran. After obtaining a written consent form from the participants, primary investigators and three of the trained facilitators (male and female) conducted the sessions. We employed content analysis to extract the major themes and sub-themes. The rigor of the data was obtained.

  Results : Addiction, risky sexual behavior, and social misconduct ion (aggression) were identified as the main concerns for the boys. Risky sexual behavior, early marriage, eating unhealthy habits, physical motionless, and fear of the future (job, education, marriage) were identified as the main health-risk behaviors for the girls.

  Conclusion : According to our findings, health risk behaviors are classified differently for boys and girls. However, sexual risk behaviors are common findings for both groups. The adolescents' risky behaviors are formed throughout their socialization and seriously influenced by the given culture. Understanding of gender schema was identified as an important factor in the way participants do priority health-risk behaviors of young people. Comprehensive and holistic health education and promotion programs targeting adolescents as well as training programs for parents are suggested.

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Background and Aim: Spices are likely to contain toxic heavy metals. The objective of this study was to assess the non-carcinogenic risk of consuming curry powder, turmeric and cardamom, marketed both in bulk and in packaged form, in Hamedan, Iran, as regards lead and cadmium in 2015.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive study, conducted in Hamedan, Iran, included nine samples of packaged and nine samples of bulked spices, the heavy metal contents of which were measured in triplicates, after acid digestion, by atomic absorption. The data were analyzed by SPSS, the statistical tests being one-way ANOVA, Shapiro-Wilks test, oOne-Sample T-Test, Pearson's correlation coefficient and the independent T-test.
Results: The maximum mean concentrations of lead and cadmium (mg/kg) were 5.48±0.95 and 0.13±0.20, respectively. The mean concentration of lead in turmeric samples was higher than the respective WHO standard. On the other hand, the health index (HI) of lead in the turmeric sample (mean =3/25×10^-2, 1/5×10^-1) and that of cadmium (222×10^-3, 1/04×10^-2) were less than one, that is, below the risk threshold for children and adults, respectively.
Conclusion: The findings based on health index show that consumption of spices does not pose any risk for the consumers. However, considering that the mean concentration of lead in the turmeric samples exceed the respective standard, as well as the non-biodegradability and bioaccumulation of heavy metals, if consumption of spices is not controlled, health problems in the long term are not unlikely to occur in the consumers. Therefore, regular periodic monitoring of chemical pollutants content of spices, especially heavy metals, is recommended for protection of consumers’ health.
 

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Background and Aim: Heavy metals in the surface soils of cities from various sources (traffic, industrial emissions, erosion from buildings, etc.) can accumulate through inhalation, ingestion and dermal contact in the human body and imperil health. The purpose of this study was to assess the ecological and human health risks caused by some heavy metals in roadside soil at the intersections of Ahvaz (Modares, Kharchar, Zargan, Behbahani, Golestan, Abadan, Khorramshahr, Susangerd and Andimeshk).
Materials and Methods: In this study, the concentration of heavy metals in roadside surface soils in intersections of Ahvaz in the summer of 2016 was investigated. The sampling at each intersection was carried out at specified intervals of 1, 10 and 30 meters on the sides of the main road (6 samples from each intersection) from the surface soil (depth 0 to 20 cm); the total number of samples was 54. The samples were transferred to the laboratory and dried at 60 ° C in an oven. After digestion of the samples with an acid mixture, concentrations of heavy metals Zn, Pb, Ni, Cu, Cr, Cd and As were measured by inductive coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The contamination level was estimated based on potential ecological and human health risks of heavy metals.
Results: The average concentrations of Zn, Pb, Ni, Cu, Cr, Cd and As were 116.61 ± 49.42, 284.02 ± 166.91, 25.53 ± 4.47, 220.63 ± 87.75, 137.21 ± 84.80, 3.44 ± 3.23 and 8.65 ± 3.8 mg/kg, respectively. Isotope ratios indicated that emissions from automobiles/traffic and industrial emissions were the most important sources of lead in the samples studied. The average value of potential ecological risk (RI) in Andimeshk, Golestan and Susangerd intersections was low; that in Modarres, Behbahani and Zergan intersections was medium; and that in Chaharsir, Abadan and Khorramshahr intersections was high. Cr poses the highest risk of cancer in both children and adults, although the risk of carcinogenesis in children is higher than in adults.
Conclusion: The results show that the source of contamination with the metals studied is anthropogenic, including road traffic and industrial activities, in the area investigated.
 

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Background and Aims: Heavy metals in atmospheric dust can enter the human body through ingestion, respiration and skin contact and cause various diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of lead, a heavy metal, in atmospheric dust and assess its health risk during the period between winter of 1397 and the fall of 1398 in regions 9, 10, 11 and 12 of Tehran Municipality, Tehran, Iran.
Materials and Methods: Atmospheric dusts were collected monthly during one year in the following locations in Tehran: west and east of region 9; east of regions 10, 11 and 12 (the locations in the west of these regions had common borders with the eastern part of the adjacent region). A factorial experiment was performed in a completely randomized design with three replications; the experimental factors included sampling locations and sampling times (seasons). The concentration of lead in the samples was then determined after extraction with hydrochloric acid and concentrated nitric acid (ration 3:1).
Results: The lowest (177.1 mg/kg) and highest (98.476 mg/kg) concentration of lead were found to be in location 9W (Tehransar) in winter and in location 11E (Vahdet-E-eslami Avenue) in autumn, respectively. Further analysis of the data showed that ingestion of the atmospheric dust was the main risk of exposure to lead and that more than 90% of the risk index for non-cancerous diseases caused by lead was related to ingestion hazard quotient (HQ, risk equation).
Conclusion: Based on the findings it can be concluded that in winter the hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI, non-cancer Risk Index) for lead were lower than the maximum permitted levels for adults and children and, so, did not pose any health risk for these age groups. However, in spring, summer and autumn the risk index for lead was higher than the maximum permitted level for children and, thus, the risk of children developing non-cancerous diseases was high in all the sampling locations.