Comparison of Health Status Indicators in Iran with the Eastern Mediterranean Countries Using Multiple Attribute Decision-Making Methods

BACKGROUND: Improving public health is the main goal of healthcare systems across the world. Healthcare policymakers often use comparisons between different healthcare systems to better position their country and use the outcome to develop novel strategies to improve their own public health. The present study aimed to compare the health status indicators in Iran with those of the Eastern Mediterranean (EM) countries using the multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) methods. METHODS: A descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2021 at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Data on the ranking of health status indicators in EM countries were obtained from the annual publications of the World Health Organization, World Health Statistics (2016-2020). As part of the MADM mathematical models, the “criteria importance through intercriteria correlation” (CRITIC) model was used to assign weights to health status indicators. In addition, the “multi-criteria optimization and compromise solution” (VIKOR) model was used to rank the EM countries. RESULTS: The results showed that Bahrain and Somalia ranked first and last on health status indicators, respectively. Iran was ranked fifth among the EM countries. However, while Iran has a better status on all indicators than the mean value of all EM countries, there is a significant gap between the health status in Iran compared to the top-ranked countries. CONCLUSION: Health care strategies adopted by top-ranked countries, such as Bahrain and Qatar, can be used by Iran and other EM countries as a model to improve their healthcare system.