According to the Public Relations Department of the UNESCO Chair in Social Health and Development, University of Tehran, a meeting of the Chair members with members of the Iranian Anti-Tobacco Society and the National Network for the Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases was held on February 1, 2019 at 11:00 AM at the Society’s office.

First, Dr. Mohammad Reza Masjedi, Secretary General of the Iranian Anti-Tobacco Society and Managing Director of the Network, pointed out that the goal of this non-governmental organization is to control tobacco use, protect people, especially youth, from tobacco use, which is a gateway to delinquency and addiction. He said: “We have so far provided solutions to control tobacco use through experts and specialists in various sectors, and we will continue to use all social facilities and capacities to confront this issue.”

Masjedi added: “Our goal is to take effective steps in the field of tobacco control, school by school, neighborhood by neighborhood, etc., by designing and preparing educational-cultural products and sending them to some different schools and universities.”

He said that in this series, we want to implement a project in Tehran in cooperation with His Excellency Hojjat-e-Salam Wa Muslimin Abu Torabi, the interim Friday Imam and member of the Tehran City Council, which we hope to obtain the support of relevant organizations.

The Secretary General of the Society for Combating Tobacco Use added that in the Niarvan region, participation in the health field was met with great welcome; students made their own, so that they currently collect plastic bags in this school and neighborhood and use paper bags, and this shows that the school is a good place for prevention.

He continued: In a meeting we had with Dr. Nili, the president of Tehran University, in the field of tobacco, he welcomed the implementation of this project for students and academics, and I hope that the UNESCO Chair in Social Health and Development can make a significant contribution in the field of the value of social health, healthy understanding, prevention and awareness.

Dr. Younes Nourbakhsh, Head of the UNESCO Chair in Social Health and Development at the University of Tehran, continued: "We can define and implement joint research and educational programs in the field of social health to increase our mutual capacity. He also stated that we all have a concern for controlling and combating tobacco.

He added that one of the goals of the University of Tehran is to enter into social issues that have a negative impact on society. Smoking is also one of these phenomena that requires culture and discourse in this field. To ensure the health of the community, the development of health and treatment justice must be followed by reducing social and psychological tension, because the issue has become more social, and social harms continue to increase.

Dr. Nourbakhsh said: "Our proposal is to replace the paradigm of promoting social health with the paradigm of social prevention, because prevention has a cross-sectional and superficial view, and prevention cannot be successful until the dimensions of health are explained. In addition, the concept of community health is broader than prevention. Many patients have a wrong lifestyle that does not necessarily cause social harm, such as obesity, blood sugar, and many other diseases. Social health is not yet well-established in society, and we must inform and highlight social health through relevant sites and channels. We must reform and rebuild the foundations of social health, otherwise prevention theories will not solve the problem of society.

The head of the UNESCO Chair in Social Health and Development announced: In many countries in the world, tobacco taxes are more than 70 percent, and not only on tobacco, but also on harmful goods. In our society, they now tax sports clubs. Sports are now expensive for the general public, and we should not make them more expensive because people's health is at risk.

Then, Dr. Mohammad Reza Saeedabadi, the international affairs advisor of Alborz Campus and the head of the scientific committee for international studies and experiences of the UNESCO Chair in Social Health and Development at the University of Tehran, said: "For foreign students interested in discussing social health, a platform for cooperation is available, and the issue of social health can be extracted from the experiences of active countries and NGOs." He emphasized that foreign students are influential and it is possible that if something has been done in this field and others have been successful, the UNESCO Chair should do it, and we are looking to follow up on the success in the technical, student, and student fields.

He emphasized that it is the sites and media sectors that represent this issue. The tobacco field creates waves if it is seen through the media, and the UNESCO Chair in Social Health and Development can have more fruitful cooperation with the population in the field of social health.

Dr. Nourbakhsh continued: "The UNESCO Chair has had good experiences in organizing workshops and specialized meetings in the field of social health and can support this population in this field."

He stated that the University of Tehran has a good scientific treasure trove, such as professors, students, and scientific resources, which can contribute significantly to creating a platform and promoting social health, and empowering people is much more important so that they can later be good ambassadors for the anti-tobacco community.

It should be noted that more than 52 non-governmental organizations are members of the National Network for Combating Non-Communicable Diseases.

At the end, a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Social Responsibility between the UNESCO Chair in Social Health and Development and the National Network for the Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases was signed by the parties in the following areas.

1-1)     Exchange of researchers and technical experts to gain experience and transfer knowledge in areas of common interest based on the framework of regulations and laws

1-2)     Cooperation in holding specialized training courses for managers and experts

1-3)    Cooperation and exchange of information and experiences in holding joint meetings and gatherings in the field of organizational training

1-4)    Cooperation with universities and international organizations and institutions by holding conferences, holding exhibitions, innovative film festivals, producing content, presenting and publishing in the field of social health / healthy lifestyle (smoking-free life, healthy nutrition, appropriate physical activity)

1-5)    Using the hardware and software facilities of the parties to carry out joint projects in compliance with laws and regulations

1-6)    Participating in relevant bilateral meetings to follow up on agreements and operationalize measures

1-7)    Other matters that will be agreed upon by the parties.