After the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran understated the dangers of the coronavirus during the outbreak of the pandemic at the beginning of 2020, the Minister of Health shortly afterwards called on Iranian benefactors to wage a holy war against the virus and to donate to charitable organisations to procure masks and other medical supplies. In her lecture, Sahar Aurore Saeidnia (Beirut) looks at how health policy is organised in Iran, which actors and institutions are involved and how health care is provided and accessed.
Sahar Aurore Saeidnia's research project "Everyday Beneficence. Investigating how Islam and politics entangle through the socio-history of 'doing good' in Iran (1906–2016)" was funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation as part of the special programme Islam.