US Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Sherry F Carlin joined Minister of Health and Population Ahmed Emad El-Dein to launch a new programme to strengthen Egypt’s family planning in response to the country’s rapid population growth.
A Saturday press statement from the US Embassy in Egypt said the programme comes in response to calls by Egyptian officials, including President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, to recognise how overpopulation poses a threat to Egypt’s national development and is part of the US government’s commitment to stand with Egypt in its economic and social development.
The USAID will provide technical assistance and training to the Ministry of Health and Population to strengthen its family planning and reproductive health programme.
Activities will help increase demand for family planning services and enhance the quality of services, aiming to improve contraceptive use and reduce fertility over time.
The five-year $19m programme will be implemented in nine governorates in Upper Egypt and areas of Cairo and Alexandria, according to the statement.
“We know that USAID family planning programmes have made tremendous impact in the past. We stand poised again to be a part of the solution to the rapid growth in Egypt’s fertility rate,” said Carlin.
For nearly 40 years, the USAID has worked with the Egyptian people to improve healthy behaviours by supporting maternal and child health, family planning, nutrition, immunisation, and disease prevention activities, noted the statement.
The new family planning programme is part of the $30bn that the American people have invested in Egypt through the USAID since 1978, it added.
