Ministry of Health held celebration themed 'Egypt's success journey towards expanding women's access to health'. Minister of Health Khaled Abdel Ghaffar asserted that the political leadership attaches great importance to women-related issues, especially women's health, with the goal of empowering them at the health and social levels. The Egyptian government spares no effort in providing the best medical service to Egyptian women in accordance with international standards, he noted, pointing out that Egyptian women represent the most important player in the sustainability and progress of societal systems, praising their efforts for the success of the healthcare sector. The minister was addressing the conference held to celebrate International Women's Day, which is celebrated annually on March 8. The conference was held under the slogan of "Egypt's success journey towards expanding women's access to health", in cooperation with Novartis Egypt. The event featured Dr Mohamed Hassani, Assistant Minister of Health for Public Health Initiatives, Dr Muhammad Al-Tayeb, Assistant Minister of Health for Technical Affairs and Governance, health ministry senior officials, and medical teams working on the Presidential Women's Health Initiative and other authorities managing the women's health portfolio. "This celebration is a culmination of Egypt's achievements in all women-related fields, mainly promoting their health and their families' health," said the minister, adding that this was achieved by providing every woman with high-quality medical services via initiatives and campaigns, chiefly the president's women's health initiative under the slogan 100 Million Healthy Lives. Abdel Ghaffar said that the political leadership believes in women's role and efforts, and the importance of women's involvement in social work, showcasing some of the achievements of the women's health initiative. "Since July 2019, 33,827,901 women accessed medical services at 3,538 healthcare units and 102 hospitals across the country under the initiative," the minister added. He noted that the initiative achieved its goals in early cancer detection, pointing out that figures for stage 1 and stage 2 detections were up. In addition to that, the initiative has increased women's awareness regarding the importance of periodic examinations, and boosted their connection and communication with basic care units, providing communicable disease screening services and enhancing women's reproductive healthcare, and providing treatment protocols free of charge. Health ministry Spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said the minister commended the cooperation between civil society, the authorities, the sectors concerned, and companies on women's issues to provide the best health screening services for women. He asserted the ministry's keenness to provide women with comprehensive health services, which include the availability of mobile medical teams that can reach women at work or at home, in addition to mobile units that provide mammogram and ultrasound screenings to cover the largest possible number of women and facilitate their access to the health services they need. He pointed out that the day's celebration was a key step in improving healthcare services for women, stressing the need to open channels of communication with international health institutions, to share expertise, and to learn about the latest cancer treatment methods and protocols, which help reduce the number of female cancer patients. Sherif Amin, Country President, Novartis Egypt, praised the partnership with the Ministry of Health and the cooperation to provide top-quality pharmaceutical and medical services in the health sector, especially for breast cancer patients. stressing that the company was committed to providing therapeutic services and participating in early detection campaigns and patient support programs, as well as providing training and education to healthcare professionals, with a focus on chronic diseases, including breast cancer, chronic myeloid leukaemia, heart failure, psoriasis, and other diseases. Celebrating International Women's Day, Amin said that Novartis was dedicated to empowering women at different job levels, and its commitment to improving the gender balance in management roles was ongoing, as the company has the vision and objective to increase the number of women in leadership positions to 50% in Egypt, up from the current 33%. On the sidelines of the celebration, the health minister honoured a number of female workers from the presidential women's health initiative's medical teams, and workers in the health sector for their fruitful and distinguished efforts, wishing them progress and more success in their careers. The Ministry of Health has developed the infrastructure of healthcare centres and facilities, upgraded pathology laboratories, secured 27 mammograms and 5 ultrasound machines for advanced examination centres, and enhanced the oncology treatment system in Egypt. It also offered training and education to women's health initiative service providers as per international standards. The total number of trainees reached 17,747 from all departments since the initiative launched until February 2023. In addition to that, the ministry has agreed to cooperate with the French Gustave Roussy Institute and reached an agreement with the Dar es Salaam Oncology Center to train and upskill medical staff.
