Egyptian Minister of Health and Population Khalid Abdel Ghaffar on Tuesday said that rapid population growth poses a serious challenge to Egypt’s current and future national action.
The minister was addressing the inauguration of the Global Congress on Population, Health and Development (PHDC’23), currently taking place in the New Administrative Capital.
He thanked President Abdel Fattah El Sisi for attending and sponsoring the conference.
The PHDC’23 is being held 29 years after the International Population and Development Conference, which took place in 1994 in Cairo to highlight updates of the population issues at the international level, Abdel Ghaffar said.
Overpopulation phenomenon hinders economic growth and development efforts, the minister said, adding that it also depletes all development revenues and affects the quality of services provided to people, due to the lack of balance between economic and population growth.
He noted the rapid population growth put strains on efforts of combating poverty, hunger and malnutrition as well as catering to the amounting demand for health services and education and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Minister Abdel Ghaffar reviewed the Health and Population Ministry’s vision regarding introducing the National Strategy for Population and Development, along with a road map for handling the population issue through outlining the population characteristics and improving the living standards of people.
Egypt’s prolonged population issue dates back to the 1960s, the minister said, noting that the country’s earliest population programmes have been introduced in 1962, in a step that was followed by the establishment of the family planning council, the National Population Council (NPC), a ministry for population and family affairs and, most recently, the launch of the National Project for Development of the Egyptian Family in 2022.
The anticipated launch of the National Strategy for Population and Development 2023 represents the state’s latest efforts to handle the overpopulation crisis, the minister added.
Minister Abdel Ghaffar said the education system witnessed at the start of the 20th century the graduation of generations of university students, including scientists who “invaded the world” with their knowledge and science.
He pointed out that the road, transport and railways networks were good when Egypt’s population at the start of the 20th century was only 19 million but the problem worsened with the rapid growth of the country’s population to hit at present 105 million in addition to about 10 million foreigners living on Egyptian soil.
He stressed the importance of the expansion in the development projects and services to cope with the population’s rapid increase which has become a burden on the national economy and development plans.
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