Egypt set to launch '1000 Golden Days' initiative to develop Egyptian family

CAIRO - 28 July 2023: The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population announced the official launch of the "1000 Golden Days" Initiative for the development of the Egyptian family, which is concerned with the pregnancy period (270 days), and the first two years of the child's life (730 days).

 

Dr. Abla Al-Alfi, a member of the Health Committee in Parliament and the founder of the initiative, revealed the importance of the initiative, as it is responsible for forming 85% of the children’s physical, mental and psychological capabilities, and therefore it was named the 1000 Golden Days.

 

She also shared data about birth rates as still being high, and fertility reaches 2.85% for each mother, as 2.2 million newborns are born annually, noting that the rate of anemia is increasing, reaching 47% in children under the age of 5, and the rate of stunting among our children is high, and varies from place to place.  

 

She said that the rates of autism are increasing and breastfeeding is still shameful, which in Egypt reaches 13%.  

 

"The initiative seeks to provide childbirth assistance in hospitals, by developing family and parental awareness, and doing medical and psychological examinations," she added. 

 

She said, "We aim to train nurse midwives, provide devices and medicines to assist in a safe natural delivery, raise the mother's awareness of the importance of a safe natural delivery, and emphasize that a cesarean delivery is a medical decision based on medical data decided by the doctor in the event of the impossibility of a safe natural delivery, and is not a choice for the mother."

 

She said mother-and-child-friendly nursery mechanisms will be applied in order to provide absolute breastfeeding in the nursery and warm embrace care, which helps reduce deaths and complications by 50%.