Original Article A policy review of the community health worker programme in Iran Sara Javanparast a, *, Fran Baum b , Ronald Labonte c , David Sanders d , Gholamreza Heidari e , and Sakineh Rezaie f a Discipline of Public Health, Flinders University, Health Science Building North Ridge Precinct, Registry Road, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia. E-mail: sara.javanparast@flinders.edu.au b Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, Flinders University, Health Science Building, North Ridge Precinct, Registry Road, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia. c Institute of Population Health, The University of Ottawa, 216-1 Stewart Street, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada. d School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, Modderdam Road, Bellville 7535, South Africa. e Dean’s Office, Boushehr University of Medical Science, Office of Chancellor, Moallem Street, Boushehr, 7514633341, Iran. f Division of Network Development and Health Promotion, Ministry of Health, Deputy of Health, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Corner of Hafez and Jomhoori Streets, Tehran, Iran. *Corresponding author. Abstract Iran’s Community Health Worker (CHW) programme survived as an integral element of the health system during a period when many other nations’ CHW programmes collapsed and therefore warrants detailed analysis of the policies supporting the programme. We draw on a wide range of infor- mation about the Iranian programme and from this analysis draw important lessons on how to improve rural population health outcomes through Primary Health Care. Journal of Public Health Policy (2011) 32, 263–276. doi:10.1057/jphp.2011.7; published online 3 March 2011 Keywords: community health worker; health policy; comprehensive primary health care r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 0197-5897 Journal of Public Health Policy Vol. 32, 2, 263–276 www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/