The American University in Cairo (AUC) announced on Sunday that a team of its faculty and researchers is collaborating on a project to assess and enhance the Egyptian healthcare system, as the country aims to expand its national universal health insurance to all citizens by 2030. The AUC team, led by Hesham Dinana, an assistant professor in AUC's Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, is working alongside Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population, the London School of Economics, and other academics. This project is part of the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR), an international collaboration involving academia, governments, and the private sector, dedicated to strengthening healthcare systems worldwide. Egypt is noted as the first African country to join this global initiative. A comprehensive report, resulting from this collaboration, has analysed and provided recommendations across seven critical domains of Egypt's healthcare system: governance, financing, workforce, medicines and technology, service delivery, population health, and environmental sustainability, aiming to identify its strengths and weaknesses. "This project aims to create lasting solutions that improve access, early detection, and overall care for all Egyptians. So many studies end up with recommendations that never go into action, and that's something I wanted to avoid from the beginning," Dinana said. Building on the report's findings, the team is now developing two key initiatives for implementation within Egypt's healthcare reform. These include creating a centralised health data platform to improve decision-making and resource allocation, and establishing a fair financing system. This system will aim to match healthcare spending with the most common health issues and utilise new payment methods to maintain manageable and sustainable costs. Dinana explained that these efforts are designed to ensure resources are distributed where they are most needed. "By using advanced data and innovative payment models, we can create a system that not only improves healthcare outcomes but also makes it more affordable and equitable for all, especially the most vulnerable populations." The research team is currently working with the government and the private sector to launch educational and advocacy programmes that will support the implementation of these initiatives. Serving on the project's advisory board from AUC are Mohamed Salama, professor and graduate programme director at AUC's Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology (IGHHE), and Fayrouz Sakr-Ashour, assistant professor at IGHHE. The report's AUC-affiliated co-authors include Basma Saleh (MPH '23), Hebatalla Ismail (MPH '24), Eman Abu Aly (MPH '25), and Marwa Hafiz (MPH '25), who also serves as the project's coordinator. Researchers from other institutions contributing to the report include Fatma MA Barakat from the American University of Beirut and Ranin Soliman from the University of Oxford. "We as a team believe that focusing on healthcare and education as Egypt's top priorities is crucial right now," Dinana noted. "Healthcare is not just a medical field; it intersects with finance, economics, communications, and engineering. It requires a diverse set of skills, many of which we have here at AUC. This partnership demonstrates that we are trusted to produce world-class solutions," he concluded.
