2 million Egyptian women have no access to contraceptives: officials

CAIRO - 11 July 2018: As the world is marking the 29th anniversary of the Population Day, an Egyptian public health professor at Cairo University stressed that 2 million Egyptian women, mostly in Upper Egypt, have no access to contraceptives.

Maisa Shawki, former deputy health minister, said family planning services should be made widely available through providing contraceptives and raising awareness of both men and women about the importance of reproductive health.

Overpopulation and limited resources are among the biggest challenges facing development in Egypt, she added. However, she cited some improvement in population indicators after the start of the application of the 2015/2030 National Population Strategy.

Birth rate went down from 31.9 percent in 2012 to 26.8 percent in 2017 and growth rate of population declined from 25.4 percent in 2012 to 21.1 percent in 2017 , she added.