Ministry of Health launches strategy to reduce birth rate in Egypt

CAIRO – 8 August 2018: Egypt’s Ministry of Health announced launching a new strategy to control the rapidly growing population on Wednesday. A birth rate of 2.4 for each woman is expected to be achieved by 2030.

Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed said in statements to Egypt Today that the new plan includes working on several axes to achieve the anticipated goal. These axes include raising the awareness about birth control methods to 71.6 percent.

“Family birth planning and health, education, as well as youth and women's empowerment and media” will be among the axes included in the ministry’s plan to raise awareness about overpopulation risks.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi talked several times during public conferences and meetings about overpopulation risks and how it affects the country’s policies and economics. During the fifth edition of the National Youth Conference in Cairo last May, Sisi affirmed that the growing population is detrimental to development.

Sisi urged politicians, media, and citizens to discuss the issue of the booming population in Egypt, saying the state has failed over decades to convince people to reduce the birthrate.

He emphasized that responsibility towards a child is not confined to feeding it, and that the requirements of education, healthcare, and jobs have completely changed and become expensive.

Also in May, the Ministry of Social Solidarity launched a family planning campaign under the slogan “Two is enough”, aiming to control the dangerously growing population.

During a press conference held on July 29, Minister of Awqaf (Endowments), Moukhtar Gumaa, stressed that birth control has become necessary and not optional, confirming that family planning strategies were practiced during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammed, who instructed his companions to opt for the pull out methods for the benefit of the family and the whole community.

“We must find a solution to the problem of the growing population rates, given that it is considered to be Egypt’s second biggest problem after terrorism," said Goma’a.
The endowments minister also pointed out that population increases by 2.5 million annually, which entails the establishment of 2,500 new schools and 50 hospitals each year alongside other infrastructure projects.