The latest statistics on health in Egypt have been published in the World Health Organisation’s annual report issued for the East Mediterranean Zone for 2007. It is worth noting that even though the report is for 2007, some of the percentages cited nevertheless refer to previous years. The WHO report also cited the percentages for slow-developing diseases, those where it can take a long time for symptoms to manifest and become classed as chronic.
Main concerns
The WHO report said 16.5 per cent of Egyptians suffer from diabetes, 33.4 per cent from hypertension and 23.2 per cent from high cholesterol levels. The overall life expectancy at birth for individuals—based on the 2006 statistics—was 67.3 years, with males at 66.2 years and females at 69.3 years. The report also quoted 1,684 cases of measles, 11,354 of German measles, 30 of malaria, 34 cases of neonatal tetanus, 147 of cerebrospinal meningitis, 7,558 cases of typhoid, 1,276 cases of chickenpox, 108 of mumps, 887 cases of leprosy 10,044 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis, and 5,120 cases of brucellosis. As for AIDS, a total of 2,949 cases were reported.
The report also cited some positive indications such as a fall in infantile paralysis, from which Egypt has been pronounced clear since 2006. The same applies to whooping cough, which has not been seen since 2002.
The infant mortality rate was set at 33.2 for every thousand, and maternal mortality was 63 for every 100,000 births.
Health in money
The WHO report also quoted the general expenditure on healthcare for the year 2006 at 7.3 per cent of total government expenditure, with the individual share at $78. The report gives the ratio of doctors to patients at 25.1 per 10,000 and that of nurses and midwives as 28.2, while hospital beds were 21 per 10,000 and basic healthcare units were 2.2.
The real picture
The figures, despite the few positive indicators which should definitely go to the credit of the Health Ministry’s efforts, paint a bleak picture of the health situation in Egypt. On pages 2 and 3 of this issue, Watani International opens the file of health care in Egypt. Several issues such as the major problems in health care expected to be tackled by the anticipated health insurance law, the situation of nursing in Egypt, and the controversial issue of organ transplant, are brought to light. Since these questions are bound to leave the reader with a bitter aftertaste, we took care to offer the brighter perspective by introducing three examples of decent health care offered to all sectors of Egyptians. Two of these saw light through the efforts of religious-backed institutions—Muslim and Christian—and one, the “57357” hospital for children with cancer, was the fruit of a nation-wide civic effort.