Egypt’s presidential health initiatives have supported 86 million people: Health Ministry

CAIRO – 16 April 2022: Egypt’s Health Ministry has affirmed that the presidential health initiatives launched over the past years for the early detection and treatment of a number of diseases have so far supported 86 million people.

The initiatives launched under the major initiative of “100 Million Healthy Lives” include an initiative to support the health of Egyptian women and an initiative to examine and treat people with chronic diseases and detect kidney disease.

This is in addition to an initiative to detect and treat hearing loss and impairment for newborns, an initiative to eliminate surgical waiting lists, an initiative to support maternal and fetal health, as well as the vaccination campaign against the emerging coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this month, The Ministry of Health announced that a hearing survey has been conducted for 2,854,764 newborns, as part of a presidential initiative for early detection and treatment of hearing loss and impairment for newborns, which was launched in September 2019.
Some 167,970 children would be re-examined, a week after the first screening at the same unit, Health Ministry Spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said.

Around 16,758 children were referred after the second test to 30 hospitals and referral centers nationwide for higher evaluation and the start of medical treatment or the installation of a hearing aid or the transfer of the child for cochlear implant in accordance to his/her condition, the spokesman added.

Marking the World Tuberculosis Day, observed by the World Health Ogranization (WHO) on 24 March each year, the ministry said that tuberculosis incidence rate in Egypt fell from 15,000 cases per 100,000 people in 2015 to only 11 cases in 2021.

The national tuberculosis control program in Egypt provides early detection services through 33 hospitals and 131 chest diseases clinics spread across all governorates, Health Ministry Spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said on Thursday.

Those health facilities are equipped and supplied with all diagnostic and therapeutic means to discover and treat tuberculosis cases at various levels through a well-trained team, Abdel Ghaffar affirmed.

Diagnostic and treatment services were provided to 8,238 tuberculosis patients, of whom 61 percent are adult males, 33 percent are adult females, and 6 percent are children under 14 years old, Abdel Ghaffar said, adding that they are treated with first-in-class drugs that the ministry provides free of charge.

A number of 14 campaigns for early detection of tuberculosis were carried out among the groups most at risk of infection, the ministry spokesman said, noting that 29,600 cases were examined and 12,91 chest x-rays were performed.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious bacterial airborne disease that primarily affects the lungs but can also affect other body parts, including bones and nervous system. The disease, however, is curable and preventable.