Supporting the victims of domestic violence in Iran: two decades of effort.

For years there were no organized supporting system helping victims of domestic violence in Iran. 16 years ago Ministry of Interior started a national survey which led to try legislating bills in order to improve preventive and supporting services. This has inspired many health care professionals, including Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Training, to pursue this field for research. Since then, many studies has been done; which were reviewed in this paper. We tried to build a stepping stone for the future researchers and activists, since despite all what has been done, still there is no legislated bill or enough organizations to protect the victims.