Safe Community Lavasan

Name of the community: Lavasan city, the eastern north of Tehran
Country: Iran
Number of inhabitants: 15,088
Program started year: 2005
International Safe Communities Network Membership: Designation year:
Info address for the program:

The program covers the following safety promotion activities

For the age group:

Children 0-14 years:

• Safe playgrounds program
• Pamphlets about childhood injury prevention
• Parents education on childhood injury prevention
• Home-safety
• Some Programs for early identifying of primary school children with learning difficulties
• Education about traffic rules
• Safety walking home from school.
  
  

Youth 15-24 years:

• Developing life skills in relation to self and others including sexual behavior, Drug abuse & Communication
• Self-awareness, self-development
• A/An HIV/AIDS education program
• Providing guidance to prevent crisis among young people on the spot
• Women participation in social affairs
  
  

Adults 25-64 years:

• Safe public places, pedestrian and work places /falls prevention /assessment at home, etc.
  
  

Elderly 65+ years:

• Falls prevention trial
• home safety
• pedestrian safety
• safe and comfortable houses for elderly people with no family.
  
  

In the following environments:

Home:

• Home safety training especially for immigrants and illegal settlers (focus on poisonings, burns, falls)
• Solidity of constructions against earthquake, flood, etc.
• Estimating environmental cleanliness.
  
  

Traffic:

• Sending road safety messages to the public by radio and television
• Road safety talks, visits to school, education at schools
• Pedestrian crossing program / traffic calming programs.
  
  

Occupational:

• Occupational health and safety program
• Chemical safety
• Assessing potential workplace hazards and advising the workers in order to reduce the predictable dangers.
  

Schools:

• Promoting injury treatments
• educating life skills to develop positive non-violent role models
• enhancing activities on sport safety
• creating safe environments
• preventing AIDS and drug abuse.
  
  
  Sports:
  
• Safety promotion for cyclists and pedestrians
• Public exercises such as running
• Morning exercise, and Yoga in parks.
  
  

Leisure:

Safe swimming pools, parks and gyms.

Violence prevention:

• Consulting services for at risk families and individuals
• Reducing unemployment figures in order to remove poverty and violence
• Grading violent films on an age basis
• Voluntary consulting clinics for high-risk groups with harmful behaviors.
  
  

Suicide prevention:

• Psychological counseling services at public health centers (free of charge)
  
• Pamphlets about stress encountering, anger management and life skills.
  
  Programs aiming at “high-risk groups”:
  
• Children
• Young mothers
• Elderly people
  
  

Surveillance of injuries:

• House safety surveillance committee
• Public health centers
• Hospitals for referrals in Shemiranat region
• Private 24 -hour offices and clinics
  
  

Numbers per year:
About 3045 cases which hospitalized in Shemiranat hospitals .The most common reason was falling. On the whole, vehicle accidents and poisoning were the other important causes for hospitalization.
It should be mentioned that among the 120 traumas that reported in Lavasan city, cuts, burns, and falls were widely the most common cases.

Population base:483543 (East-northern Tehran area health service)

Started year: 2005-2006

Publications:

Along with some reports presented by the Shemiranat health center, the following books are published by the Ministry of health and medical education.

• Prevention of accidents for children and teenagers
• Traffic culture and behavior
• Road safety helmets
• Prevention methods of poisoning in children
• A basket of health for children
• Little march and prevention of hazards
• A guide to prevent household injuries.
• Keeping children safe
• A guide to prevent childhood accidents
• The safe communities guide book
• Pamphlets under the title of travel safety, animal bite prevention.
  

Staff:

Dr Alireza Aassadi
Mrs.Parvaneh Maffi

Manager of Shemiranat health center Governor of Lavasan city

Number: 6 (part-time)
Profession: medical and heath professionals, general public health.
Permanent: 3 (employed by Shahid Beheshti University)
Temporary: 3
Organization: Shemiranat Health Center in close partnership with health assistance and Shahid Beheshti University.

International commitments:
As a WHO-designation center of “safe-community” , Shemiranat health center has led the programme to develop and promote safety capacity in Shemiranat region especially in Lavasan.
The16th international conference on safe communities will be held in Tehran, Iran, on 11-13 June 2007.

For further information contact:

Alireza Asadi MD, Chief of the Shemiranat Health Center.
Lavasan city, Shamiranat, Tehran, Iran.

Phone: +982122235000, +982122218022
Email:yaghoot@sbmu.ac.ir
Gostaresh85@yahoo.com