Throughout the last eight years, the Egyptian government has been giving special attention to providing a decent life for each Egyptian citizen and the family. In light of this, various educational, health and cultural initiatives were launched for the sake of human dignity.
Ahead of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which is due to start on March 23, the National Alliance for Civil Development Work (NACDW) announced the launch of the ‘Shoulder to Shoulder’ initiative in co-operation with Haya Karima (Decent Life) Foundation, as the largest social protection network for securing the needs of the most vulnerable families.
The initiative, which comes at the behest of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi aims to distribute more 4 million boxes of food supplies to the most vulnerable nationwide in order to mitigate the effects of the global economic crisis.
The NACDW was launched on March 13 last year when President Sisi declared 2022 as the Year of Civil Society. Since the inauguration of the alliance, it has played a major role in enriching civil work, which started 200 years ago. The first of its kind in Egypt, the alliance gives strong impetus to social protection programmes through the partnership of several civil society associations.
The alliance, which includes 32 civil associations and 250,000 volunteers, offered its services for more than one million beneficiaries in just one year.
Different social protection programmes have been adopted by the state in the past eight years to develop shantytown areas, assist those on low-incomes, help people with special needs, and provide different kinds of support for the most vulnerable families.
This is in addition to the launch of several health initiatives nationwide. Among them is the 100 Million Healthy Lives initiative launched by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in 2018 to eradicate hepatitis C and screen all citizens over the age of 18 for the early detection of non-infectious diseases plus treatment. Early detection was not only restricted to hepatitis C, but included diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. The initiative has screened over 52 million people with free treatment for millions, which amazed the World Health Organisation.
Thanks to this initiative, Egypt successfully stamped out hepatitis C in 2020.
In 2021, the President inaugurated the first phase of the Decent Life initiative, the first large-scale project aimed to fight poverty across rural Egypt. This initiative covers improvements to healthcare in rural areas and free health services.
In 2019, President Sisi launched Nour Hayah (Light of Life) initiative, which is implemented by Long Live Egypt (Tahya Misr) Fund to treat diseases that impair vision.
The health of school students has also been given due attention by the state. The presidential initiative for the early detection of anemia, obesity and dwarfism among primary school student was launched in 2019 targeting students aged 6 to 12 years old.
The presidential initiative to end waiting lists launched in 2019 with the aim of expediting the process for patients in need of urgent surgery. Over 44,000 surgical procedures have been carried out under the initiative so far, according to the Ministry of Health.
The above initiatives adopted by the state prove to the whole world that the Egyptian citizen is the “real champion”, as described by President Sisi and that these initiatives are an integral part of human rights and efforts to strengthen social solidarity, which is why everyone has to support such initiatives that seek to enhance the quality of life.
Mohamed Fahmy is the editor-in-chief of The Egyptian Gazette and the Egyptian Mail newspapers
