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Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has become the current crisis in most countries. Therefore, paying attention to the consequences and determinants of COVID-19. Mortality can lead to better control of the condition. This study aimed to investigate the COVID-19 mortality rate and its demographic and health determinants in Fars province.Methods: This research was conducted using a quantitative method. For this purpose, available data for selected counties in Fars province were analyzed. The COVID-19 mortality rate was considered a dependent variable. In addition, the variables of literacy rate, urbanization rate, elderly population ratio, unemployment rate, the ratio of the active hospital, ratio of prehospital emergency stations, the ratio of centers for primary health care, and the ratio of active hospital beds were considered independent variables.Results: Findings showed that the variables of the elderly population ratio, urbanization rate, and unemployment rate had a direct relationship with the COVID-19 mortality rate. The findings also indicated that the COVID-19 mortality rate in the 45-49 age range begins to accelerate and peaks between 95 and 99 years old. In addition, the literacy rate was inversely related to the COVID-19 mortality rate. The results also showed an inverse relationship between all the selected health variables and the dependent variable.Conclusion: Improving the economic situation, specifically reducing the unemployment rate, emphasizing public education of the people, as well as improving the medical and health facilities, can facilitate the response to pandemics.

Objective (s): Iranian womenchr('39')s fertility has experienced a remarkable change in recent decades. Ideal fertility is one of the most important predictors of future fertility. The ideal fertility is one of those behaviors that will affect by social environment and the attitude of important others towards fertility. Hence, in this study an attempt was made to investigate the relationship between attitude of important others in womenchr('39')s social network and their ideal fertility. Methods: This was cross sectional study. A self-designed questionnaire was used to collect data. A total of 1247 married women, using stratified random sampling were surveyed in rural areas of Fars province in 2015. Results: The findings indicated that the mean ideal number of children for women surveyed was 2.5. The analysis showed that among demographic and socio-economic characteristics, education and religion had a significant impact on the ideal number of children. The findings also indicated that the attitude of husband, mother and friends towards the ideal number of children had the most important and significant impact on ideal fertility among women living in rural respectively. Conclusion: A remarkable part of womenchr('39')s attitude towards childbearing will form in their family and social environment. The findings suggest that demographic and socio-economic characteristics no longer could be the most important determinants of childbearing. It seems that at present childbearing has shifted from individual-biological behavior to social behavior. Iranian women modify their attitude towards childbearing and even shape it in their familial and friendship networks.

Background: During the last two decades, fertility has declined to replacement level in rural areas of Iran. The current study investigated the determinant factors of actual and ideal fertility, and fertility intention in rural women of Fars province.Method: This is a cross-sectional study. The sample comprised 1301 rural married women aged 15 to 49 years in Fars province. Data were gathered in 2015 using structured questionnaires. Statistical analysis was run on STATA software, version 12.0. The semi-partial correlation was run to show the unique effect of each variable while controlling all the other variables. Finally, a multiple regression model was run with a significance level of 0.05. Results: The means(±SD) of actual and ideal fertility were 2.11±(1.32) and 2.81±(0.96), respectively, and for fertility intention it was 2.92±)1.00(. Age was the most determinant factor of actual, ideal fertility and fertility intention. The second effective factor was age at first birth. The determination coefficient for the actual fertility model showed that 62.1% of the variance in actual fertility was explained by age, age at first birth, woman’s education, and use of contraceptive methods. For ideal fertility and fertility intention, about 16.2% and 27.5% of the variance were explained by the independent variables, respectively.Conclusion: As a result of the rise in education and social position of younger women, the opportunity cost of having a child is more effective than ever. Therefore, fertility incentive policies could not be effective in increasing fertility, even in among rural population.

Introduction: Regarding the significance of statistics in policy and decision making in health care system, the capability to read, understand, and interpret statistics and data is considered very important. Hence, this investigation aims at determining the statistical literacy of staff working in health deputy of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 545 employees of health deputy in year 2012 using census. Data were collected via a researcher made questionnaire in which some part of Shield’s questionnaire (different aspects of statistical literacy such as reading, interpreting graphs and understanding tables) were utilized after confirmation of reliability and validity. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The mean age of respondents was 36.2±7.2 years old. The statistical literacy scores were 41.6±19.08 for female staff and 46.3±16.4 for male staff out of a hundred. There were significant relationships between scores of statistical literacy and gender of respondents, English language skills, level of education, field of study, credits of statistics courses passed in university, study hours, and the extent of interest in job field (P