More Spending on Public Sanitation

About 9% of the Health Ministry’s budget of $ 2.3 billion goes on public sanitation and hygiene under the 2014 Health Reform Plan, said Ali Akbar Sayyari, deputy minister for health and hygiene. “The share of public hygiene has increased by 5% after the current government took office in 2013,” he told IRNA. He said there was no public sanitation system for the 11 million marginalized population (living in outlying areas of cities) before 2013. Since the launching of health reforms, about 20,000 new jobs were created in public sanitation and hygiene.