Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi witnessed on Tuesday the opening of the Global Congress on Population, Health and Development (PHDC’23) in the New Administrative Capital.
More than 8,000 persons from Egypt and the world countries take part in the four-day conference, which is held under the theme: “Healthy Population for Sustainable Development.”
The conference is attended by Health and Population Minister Khalid Abdel Ghaffar and a number of ministers and senior state officials.
The conference brings together all those concerned with health, population and development issues at the global, regional and national levels, as well as representatives of international and civil society organisations, the private sector and entrepreneurs.
The conference’s activities started with the citizens’ opinion survey on the population dilemma. They stressed the need to face overpopulation in order to provide a good quality of life for future generations. The population growth deeply affects the services provided to citizens, including health, education and others, they added.
Health Minister Khalid Abdel Ghaffar gave a speech in which he asserted that the population growth is the major challenge to the national action plan in Egypt.
The population growth hinders development efforts and economic growth and devours all development revenues, a matter that significantly affects services offered to citizens and their standard of living, he said, attributing this to the lack of proper balance between economic development and population growth.
President Sisi said “The population growth is one of the most serious issues facing Egypt.”
Despite being a natural resources-rich continent, Africa’s natural wealth will not be enough to meet all the needs of its rapidly growing population that is expected to surge to nearly 1.6 billion people in the coming few years, the president further noted.
Sisi directed to organize the Global Congress on Population, Health and Development (PHDC) on an annual basis as it represents a great opportunity and an important platform to address the population dilemma.
Sisi also referred to what came in a word by a woman during the display of a documentary film on population, in which she said that the most difficult thing for her is that she could not meet her family’s demands.
Commenting on the woman’s word, President Sisi said “The most difficult thing I go through is to know the resources available are far less than what is actually needed, and thus this will be reflected dimly in the quality of everything.”
President Sisi said “The population growth is one of the most serious issues facing Egypt.”
Despite being a natural resources-rich continent, Africa’s natural wealth will not be enough to meet all the needs of its rapidly growing population that is expected to surge to nearly 1.6 billion people in the coming few years, the president further noted.
Sisi directed to organize the Global Congress on Population, Health and Development (PHDC) on an annual basis as it represents a great opportunity and an important platform to address the population dilemma.
Sisi also referred to what came in a word by a woman during the display of a documentary film on population, in which she said that the most difficult thing for her is that she could not meet her family’s demands.
Commenting on the woman’s word, President Sisi said “The most difficult thing I go through is to know the resources available are far less than what is actually needed, and thus this will be reflected dimly in the quality of everything.”
Finance Minister Mohamed Maait asserted that President Sisi directed to allocate huge financial reserves for the comprehensive health insurance system so that the returns, alongside other revenues, will help ensure financial sustainability of the system.
The comprehensive health insurance system will replace all current systems, he said.
UNFPA Arab States Regional Director Laila Baker said the UNFPA backs the Egyptian government in forging a new population strategy based on four main factors, including financial support either direct or through supply chains.
She added that the UNFPA is interested in working with the Egyptian government to ensure balance in reproductive health linked to the 2023-2030 strategy.
Making remarks during a dialogue session on population and the future of health care, Sisi stressed the Egyptian state’s ability to confront and overcome challenges it is going through.
“We are keen to build reserves to confront all challenges,” Sisi said at a session during the Global Congress on Population, Health and Development 2023 (PHDC’23).
During the session, titled “population and future of healthcare”, the president noted that Egypt has great potentials in confronting all challenges.
Despite all the challenges experienced by Egypt over the past 10 years, “we have made great efforts as country and people; as we were well aware of the existing challenges and we have worked over the past years in an accelerated way in all fields to overcome the big gap between the population growth and the rates of development that we want to achieve,” Sisi said.
