13M school students to be checked for anemia, dwarfism, obesity

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Wed, 12 Feb 2020 - 09:58 GMT

BY

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 - 09:58 GMT

The newly appointed minister of health and population Hala Zayed – cc Egypt Today

The newly appointed minister of health and population Hala Zayed – cc Egypt Today

CAIRO - 12 February 2020: “The initiative of detecting anemia, dwarfism and obesity for school students targets 13 million students from the first to the sixth grade and will continue for 40 days in urban and rural areas,” said Ali Mahrous, coordinator of the campaign.

Mahrous told Egypt Today on Tuesday that the Ministry of Education is a key partner in the success of the initiative. He thanked those working in the ministry for working to achieve the goal of the campaign.

Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed said that the campaign would involve 4,420 medical teams and 225 clinics. Zayed clarified that students who need treatment would be referred to a Health Insurance clinic, to receive a free service.

The minister added that the campaign will be executed over three phases, and that check-ups would take place after providing a written consent of a parent and the student’s birth certificate.

The first phase will include Fayoum, Damietta, Asyut, Matrouh, Port Said, South Sinai, Qalyubia, Beheira, Alexandria, Giza, and Qena. The second phase will cover Cairo, Suez, Ismailiyah, Kafr El Sheikh, Menoufia, BeniSuef, Sohag, North Sinai, Red Sea, Aswan, and Luxor. And the last phase will take place in Daqahliyah, Sharqeya, Gharbeya, Minya, and the New Valley.

The campaign will kick off on February 17 and end on April 30. The first two phases will respectively screen five million, and three million school students. As for dropouts, the Health Ministry will also collaborate with the Ministry of Interior to carry out check-ups for the employees.

Minister Zayed encouraged the civil society to help raise awareness of the importance of delivering healthy food to low-income families. She called upon fast food outlets and snack companies to decrease fats in their products. The minister stated that obesity is quite common in international schools.

The minister announced that a nationwide campaign would be launched soon to raise awareness on public health, healthy lifestyle, and the importance of breastfeeding.

Three years ago, a campaign was launched to vaccinate children against intestinal parasites. The target was achieved by 70 percent as 8 million children were vaccinated.

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