The Health Consequences of Economic Sanctions: Call for Health Diplomacy and International Collaboration Vahid Yazdi-Feyzabadi, PhD 1 ; Mostafa Amini-Rarani, PhD 2 ; Sajad Delavari, PhD 3* 1 Health Services Management Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran 2 Health Management and Economics Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran 3 Health Human Resources Research Center, School of Management and Information Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran *Corresponding Author: Sajad Delavari, PhD; Health Human Resources Research Center, School of Management and Information Sciences, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Email: sajadd@gmail.com E conomic sanctions are penalties that are applied by diferent agents such as the United Nations Security Council and one or more countries against other countries, organizations, groups, and individuals. Sanctions on countries include various forms of barriers such as trade and transaction barriers to change the behavior of a target country. Tese sanctions may be imposed as a type of economic war instead of direct military war to maintain peace and preserve the world order; nevertheless, both have negative consequences on public health. 1 Tus, in terms of efects on public health, war and sanctions are two sides of one coin that follow the same objectives. Unlike wars, sanctions do not reveal destructions and killing innocent people, and they are named domineering and cruel means that lead to the gradual death of humans. While war directs international attention to helping civilians, sanctions’ efects are not viewed by humanitarian/ human rights organizations. In war, other countries and international humanitarian organizations help the warring nations and help them to rebuild their infrastructure and provide them with healthcare facilities. While achieving the objective of sanctions is doubtful, they often lead to humanitarian disasters. 2 In recent years, sanctions are not only used by international organizations but are frequently used by countries against each other. For example, the United States applies sanctions against other countries such as Iran, Cuba, Russia, and other opposing countries according to its own rules. Using sanctions is not limited to the US and powerful countries. In June 2017, several Arabian countries autonomously imposed land, sea, and air embargo on Qatar. Tere are numerous types and uses of sanctions by countries on news and media. Tus, sanctions are being used extensively across the globe. Iran is one of the countries that have been targeted by economic sanctions by international organizations and other countries –mostly the United States. In May 2018, the United States imposed new and heavy economic and trade sanctions on Iran. Te United States initiated the sanctions on Iran without considering international deals and agreements such as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Now, an array of restrictions is imposed on banking, shipping, trade, oil, and aircraft industries on Iran. Te main objective of economic sanctions is the countries’ economies. Tese sanctions have some negative consequences on the economy of each country, at least in the short term inevitably. Sanctions could cause a fall in national revenues and earnings (especially for Iran, which largely relies on oil exports), and an increase in prices, unemployment, and infation rate. 1,3 Tese are the direct objectives of sanctions, but sanctions have many other indirect, adverse, or maybe unwanted efects on population welfare and health. Economic sanctions afect all things that are related to economic situations such as population health. Health services in Iran are mainly provided by the public sector 4 which in turn relies on government revenues that are reduced due to sanctions. On the one hand, due to the devaluation of the national currency, health technologies are becoming more expensive than ever, and the price and cost of facilities are sharply increased due to sanctions. 1,5 So, access to health and demand for healthcare have endured adverse changes. Undeniably, sanctions have negative efects on providing care, technologies, and drugs, mainly those that are dependent on import-fnished or raw materials. 6 Previous sanctions resulted in a sudden increase in the price of pharmaceutical products. 7 Tere is strong evidence on the lack of medicine in Iran during sanctions. For example, medicines and raw medical materials import fell by 30%– 55%, and the shortage of medicine in type reached 144 from less than 30 during sanctions that were imposed on Iran in 2012. 3 Consequently, health and medical care were profoundly afected by the sanctions, and many people could not aford and utilize it, 5,8,9 especially those who sufered from chronic illnesses. Tese unjust efects are Arch Iran Med. April 2020;23(4 Suppl 1):S51-S53 Opinion ARCHIVES OF IRANIAN MEDICINE Open Access 10.34172/aim.2020.s11 doi http://www.aimjournal.ir