Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, has affirmed that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi takes great interest in the healthcare of Egyptian women, given their pivotal role in achieving sustainable development for society, and based on the fact that the success of communities depends on providing comprehensive health protection for women. Abdul Ghaffar's remarks came during the Breast Cancer Solidarity Day conference on Sunday. The event, held under the slogan "Pink October", aimed to raise awareness about the importance of early detection and prevention of the disease.
The minister reviewed the achievements the state has made in the healthcare system, where the state has launched many presidential initiatives, foremost among them the presidential initiative for women's health. He pointed to the results achieved by the President's initiative to support women's health.
According to the Minister of Health, the number of periodic visits for early detection has exceeded 50 million visits, providing services to more than 30 million women, diagnosing more than 30,000 cases, reducing the percentage of late-stage cases from 70% to 30%, and shortening the diagnosis period.
He explained that hospitals included in the initiative are required to provide a comprehensive treatment plan, approved by a multidisciplinary committee, and to implement the latest global protocols, relying on trained teams of health specialists, as well as on digital transformation applications and infrastructure that enable the provision of all these services free of charge.
For her part, Maya Morsi, Minister of Social Solidarity, said that breast cancer is the most common among women globally, with more than 2.3 million new cases recorded annually worldwide. She added that breast cancer accounts for about 35% of all cancer cases among women, stating that the disease is a test of willpower and human solidarity.
Morsi emphasized the importance of collective responsibility in raising awareness about the significance of early detection, as early discovery contributes to increasing recovery rates to 90%.
Hisham El-Ghazaly, head of the scientific committee for the President's initiative to support women's health in Egypt, stated that Egypt is the first country to reduce breast cancer incidence rates by 20%. He also noted that the initiative has contributed to reducing the breast cancer diagnosis period from 120 days to 49 days, which has reflected in a decrease in the breast cancer mortality rate to 2.5% annually.
