Ministry of Health launches family planning program

CAIRO - 12 May 2018: The Ministry of Health and Population, headed by Minister Ahmed Emad El-Din Rady, launched a new program on Thursday for family planning in Egypt in cooperation with USAID to respond to Egypt’s rapid population growth.

The program aims to improve citizens’ health behavior and support the quality of family planning services and reproductive health, Soaad Abdel Megid, head of the Population and Family Planning Sector, said.

She added that an electronic program will be established to register the beneficiaries of the program, implement a distance learning model, design a family planning and reproductive health curriculum in the medical and nursing schools, and involve the private and public sectors in providing the service.

USAID will provide technical assistance and training to the Ministry of Health and Population to strengthen its Family Planning and Reproductive Health Program. Activities will help increase demand for family planning services and enhance the quality of services, aiming to improve contraceptive use and reduce fertility over time. The 5-year, $19 million program will be implemented in nine governorates in Upper Egypt and areas of Cairo and Alexandria, the U.S. embassy in Cairo stated on Saturday.

“We know that USAID family planning programs have made tremendous impact in the past. We stand poised again to be a part of the solution to the rapid growth in Egypt’s fertility rate,” USAID Egypt Mission Director Sherry Carlin said at the program launch.

Egypt’s Family Planning Program (SEFPP),a five-year, USAID-funded activity, in cooperation with the U.S. John Snow Research and Training Institute, aims to create sustainable solutions that will help address Egypt’s growing population by increasing the use of family planning methods and promoting healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies. Project implementation is focused on the nine governorates of Upper Egypt and the slums of Cairo and Alexandria.

For nearly 40 years, USAID has worked with Egypt on projects related to healthy behaviors, family planning, nutrition, immunization and disease prevention activities.

Egyptian Population hits 104.2M

The Egyptian population hit 104.27 million both domestically and abroad, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics’ (CAPMAS) latest census in 2017. Those living inside the country amount to 94.8 million, while expats are estimated to at 9 million, according to statistics from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The statistics spotlighted the government’s concerns on issues of economic growth, unemployment rates and family planning programs.

Egyptian Population hits 104.2M

CAIRO - 30 September 2017: A conference was held on Saturday to announce the population growth in Egypt for the year 2017. The event was attended by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, members of parliament, representatives of civil society, businessmen, media personnel, and officials in charge of population count processes.

Additional Reporting Noha el Tawil