Investigating the effects of human health resource changes on the basic health indicators in Iran: An econometric study

INTRODUCTION: In the development perspective of each country, it is important to pay attention to the health sector and improve health indicators; therefore, planning in training and distribution of human resources in the health sector is an important factor to achieve the health system goals. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of changes in health sector human resources on infant mortality rate (IMR), maternal mortality rate (MMR), and under-five mortality rate (U5MR) in Iran. METHODS: This was an econometric study (data panel) that conducted retrospectively and used data from the period 2006 to 2017 among Iranian provinces. Three regression models were used to determine the effect of health sector human resources (physicians, nurses, and paramedical staff) on the IMR, MMR, and U5MR. The random-effects model was selected over the fixed-effects model to assess the effect of health sector human resources on health outcomes. RESULTS: Results showed that the number of physicians in different models has a stronger impact on these mortality rates than those of nurses and paramedics, so that a 1% increase in the number of physicians leads to 2.1%, 3.8%, and 2.2% decrease in IMR, MMR, and U5MR, respectively. Furthermore, per capita income has a bigger impact on these mortality rates than human health resources. CONCLUSION: Increasing the number of human resources in the health sector, especially the number of physicians, by investing in these resources by providing educational facilities, plays an important role in improving the mothers’ and infants’ health indicators.