Ministry of Health launches ‘Egypt Without Addiction’ initiative

CAIRO – 31 August 2018: The General Secretariat of Egypt's Mental Health and Addiction Treatment, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), launched on Thursday “Egypt Without Addiction” initiative to raise awareness on drug addiction and how to avoid it for youth in all Egyptian governorates.

Alexandria will be the first governorate to launch the initiative due to the addiction treatment services available in Al Mamoura mental health hospital and many other mental health hospitals, Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said.

Megahed said that the initiative aims to reach all citizens in Egyptian governorates, pointing out that the initiative will provide awareness campaigns on the dangers of addiction and how to recover from it.

Egypt suffers from an increasing drug problem that officials are struggling to stem. Egypt’s Minister of Social Solidarity, Ghada Wali, said in January that the rate of drug addiction in Egypt had risen to 10 percent (9.6 million people) and is twice the global rates.

In April, the Ministry of Social Solidarity and the Fund for Drug Control and Treatment of Addiction (FDCTA) has chosen Mohamed Salah, football star, to participate in its fourth advertisement called “Say No to Drugs" to encourage the Egyptian youth to stay away from all kinds of drugs.

Salah’s participation came as part of a major campaign led by the ministry to implement a national plan to combat drug abuse.

Around 82,000 patients benefited in 2016 from Egypt’s drug addiction hotline, 16024, according to the head of the Egyptian Fund for Drug Control and Addiction Treatment, Amr Othman, who told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The services provide free treatment and counseling sessions. The fund is also launching a new initiative called “A New Beginning,” in collaboration with Nasser Social Bank, to grant loans for recovered patients to start small projects.

Othman added that more rehabilitation centers providing free addiction treatment are under construction. Two centers in Sharkeya and Dakahleya governorates will be inaugurated soon, he added.

The fund is cooperating with Mentor Institute, a leading international non-governmental organization for drug abuse prevention. The fund also plans to launch several awareness campaigns, and a competition was held recently for the production of anti-drug awareness movies.

Moreover, Endowments Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa called in February for decisively confronting drug addiction which poses a grave danger to youth and the whole society.

The minister called for fighting drug trafficking and illicit trade that involves the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of narcotic drugs.

He also stressed the importance of stepping up anti-drug media campaigns and giving public lectures at schools and universities to raise awareness on the danger of drug addiction.