A remedy for Mississippi's health blues

Los Angeles Times, January 25, 2010

Aaron Shirley, MD, has devoted his career to serving the rural poor in the Mississippi Delta, but now the 77-year-old pediatrician believes the key to reducing the nation's highest infant mortality rates lies in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Los Angeles Times reports. In May, Shirley and two colleagues flew to Iran for 10 days to study a low-cost rural healthcare delivery system that, according to the World Health Organization, has helped cut infant deaths by 70% over the last three decades.