The Presidential Initiative for Women's Health — in cooperation with Novartis Oncology — held a press conference in the presence of renowned health experts to shed light on women's essential role in society's development and the health challenges they face. The conference highlighted the government's efforts to support Egyptian women, with a focus on the health sector in particular, primarily through the Presidential Initiative for Women's Health that was launched in 2019. Novartis representatives showcased the pharmaceutical giant's endeavours across all possible avenues to support women as well as its continued commitment to cooperating with the Ministry of Health and Population and all relevant stakeholders to improve prevention and treatment methods and direct research activities towards developing innovative and effective treatments. Ahmed Morsy — Executive Director of the Presidential Initiative for Women's Health — expressed his pleasure at participating in the conference, welcoming the attendees. "International Women's Day is an opportunity to highlight the great achievements of women across all fields and their important role in managing issues within family and society," said Morsy. "It also offers us the chance to emphasise the importance of directing more support and care towards women to address the varied challenges — especially those that are health-related — that they face. These include high rates of cardiovascular diseases and cancer," he pointed out, adding that "breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among Egyptian women, representing around 32.4% of female cancer cases." "The Presidential Initiative for Women's Health reflects this commitment. It aims to detect various diseases and screen more than 24m women countrywide for breast cancer in addition to providing the latest innovative drugs free of charge to patients aged 18 years and above. The health ministry has screened 16,500,000 women since the launch of the initiative in July 2019 throughout 23,200,000 visits," said Morsy. On the health ministry's role in promoting women's health, Dr. Sherif Amin — the General Manager of Novartis Oncology for Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia — applauded the government's efforts saying that "in recent years, the medical sector has achieved remarkable progress in improving women's health in general, as well as in terms of developing treatment protocols and providing innovative and more effective medications that improve the quality of lives for patients with chronic diseases, particularly cancer patients, with breast cancer at the top of the list," emphasising that "breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in Egypt," and that Novartis had attached great importance to advanced breast cancer by offering better treatment alternatives. "Novartis enthusiastically welcomes constructive cooperation with the Presidential Initiative for Women's Health with the goal of upskilling health ministry healthcare professionals, briefing them on medical updates regarding the latest breast cancer treatments and early screening protocols, in addition to providing support in developing the national registry for cancer patients in Egypt, and contributing to the development of an oncology centre of excellence in Egypt." The company's efforts are not limited to medical support only, but also focus on supporting patients as a top priority. Nearly 8,000 cancer patients have so far accessed Novartis support programmes with a concrete emphasis on launching innovative patient support programmes for advanced breast cancer patients — such as the 'Enaya' and 'Sanadek' programmes — to support affected patients throughout their treatment journey," Amin pointed out. "Women are instrumental in the development of society; they are its backbone and foundation and a conduit for its progress. That is why we must unite and direct all possible means of support and care to Egyptian girls and women," said Marie Andree Gamache — the Head of Novartis Oncology Middle East and Africa.
