Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Waly said in a statement on Monday that there will be new categories added to the Takaful and Karama (Solidarity and Dignity) social protection project for the first time since its launch. Around 1.5 million families of those unable to work will be added to the project, which will be 2.4 million persons, including those who face incurable diseases, accidents that prevent them from work, divorced women, and widows, in order to provide a life of dignity, safety, and economic empowerment. The minister said that the tables of all beneficiaries of the social security will be changed so that the country has a unified programme of cash support, in addition to the full application of privileges in the field of education and health, and most importantly the continued beneficiaries of Takaful and Karama in the disbursement of monthly aid smart cards from ATMs, which reduces the suffering of families, and this card will include all social services in the future, including health insurance. Among social protection and support projects that have been executed during recent years, Takaful and Karama came at the top of services benefiting the most vulnerable groups in the villages of Upper Egypt and in some areas adjacent to the governorates of Cairo and Giza. It is divided into two parts—health and education—and is executed under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Solidarity, which selects the beneficiaries and issues them smart cards. In January 2018, the Takaful and Karama programme witnessed unprecedented expansion through opening registration in new areas for the first time, including 11 cities in the Sharqiya governorate, and the initiative also launched in Kafr El-Sheikh.
