Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population announced on Sunday the start of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi's initiative to "examine those who are about to get married" under the slogan "100 Million Health", in an effort to reduce the chances of exposure of future generations to genetic diseases. The official spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population, Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, stated that the initiative targets those intending to marry, Egyptians and non-Egyptians residing in Egypt, to conduct a medical examination and obtain a health certificate, noting the need to conduct analyses at least 14 days before the date of completion of the marriage to obtain on the results of the analyses. Abdel Ghaffar revealed that the initiative includes a package of medical examinations for the early detection of many infectious and non-communicable diseases, to ensure that they are free of diseases that may affect them in the future or the possibility of disease transmission between them. He indicated that the initiative's services are available in 300 medical centres and units, at the rate of at least one medical centre within each health department, throughout the official working days, starting from 9 am until 2 pm, indicating the availability of a medical team specialised in providing the initiative's services. Each medical unit and centre consists of a doctor, a nurse, and a lab technician. Wael Abdel Razek, the Head of the Healthcare and Nursing Sector, said that the medical examinations provided by the initiative include the detection of non-communicable diseases (diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity), as well as the detection of infectious diseases (virus B, hepatitis C, and HIV), in addition to blood analyses. Abdel Razek added that if the results showed infection with any disease, the referral system is applied and the two parties are directed to receive the necessary medical services and treatment, in a way that limits the complications of infection for the affected party, as well as preventing the transmission of infection to the other party. He pointed out that the initiative also includes providing counselling and health education services for those about to get married.
