WASHINGTON, June 28, 2018 (MENA) - The World Bank announced on Thursday a new 530-million-dollar project to support Egypt's national goal of improving public healthcare, including expanding family planning services, scaling up its groundbreaking Hepatitis C programme, and supporting the new National Health Insurance System. The new project aims to improve services at 600 primary healthcare facilities and 27 hospitals, support Egypt's family planning efforts through a 35-million-dollar intervention, scale up the community health workers programme to promote better health and nutrition, screen 1 million units of blood annually, and expand the screening of Hepatitis C for around 35 million people and treatment of an estimated 1.5 million patients. The project will also screen 20 million adult Egyptians against non-communicable diseases and risk factors, according to a press release issued by the World Bank. The 5-year "Transforming Egypt's Healthcare System" project will be implemented by the Ministry of Health and Population and will be an integral component of Egypt's ambitious health reforms. With the recent enactment of the Comprehensive Health Insurance law, demand for quality healthcare is expected to grow. The new project is designed to meet that demand. Egypt's Hepatitis C program has become an example for developing countries in ensuring that the poorest segment of the population has access to cutting-edge treatments at affordable costs which are expected to be further lowered through this project. "The Project is in line with President Sisi's grand vision which aims at investing in the Egyptian people. We welcome the World Bank's support to the implementation of our ambitious home-grown health sector reform programme to enhance our people's livings standards," said Dr. Sahar Nasr, Egypt's Minister of Investment and International Cooperation who also represents Egypt on the World Bank's Board of Governors. "Health is a top priority for the government" said Dr. Hala Zaid, Minister of Health and Population. "This project aims to tackle Egypt's top health agenda priorities: eliminating Hepatitis C , strengthening community, primary, and secondary healthcare services and addressing public health concerns including blood safety, family planning and non-communicable diseases. Accordingly, the project will allow us to achieve our goal of ensuring that every Egyptian has access to the quality healthcare that will enable them to lead prosperous lives and contribute to Egypt's development.'' "This project is about investing in people" said Dr. Asad Alam, World Bank Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti. "Improving Egypt's health care system will strengthen the country's human capital and further build the foundation for growth and prosperity."
