The Challenges of Iran's Type 2 Diabetes Prevention and Control Program

BACKGROUND: Incidence and prevalence of type 2 diabetes are one of the major challenges of Iran health system. Despite policies on diabetes prevention and control, Iran is faced with many problems in prevention and control of this disease at the executive level. This study seeks to identify the problems of Type 2 diabetes prevention and control program in Iran. METHODS: In this qualitative study, 17 participants were interviewed purposefully. The semi-structured interview guide was designed based on literature review and four initial in-depth interviews. Framework analysis method was used for the analysis of qualitative data. RESULTS: Six themes and 29 subthemes explaining the problems of type 2 diabetes prevention and control program were identified: Referral system, human resources, infrastructure, cultural problems, access, and intersectoral coordination issues. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the well-developed policy of type 2 diabetes prevention and control, the implementation is faced with some problems which endangers the effectiveness of the plan. Any attempt to improve the successful implementation of the type 2 diabetes prevention and control program requires effective measures, deep understanding of the problems and solving them.