Population Minister Hala Youssef has announced that 27 percent of children in Egypt suffer from malnutrition due to Egyptian families’ ignorance about reproductive health.
Youssef added that the ministry will work on spreading health consciousness with the help of the media. Spacing out pregnancies will reduce the number of births by one million people annually, she stated.
“The family planning program has encountered many problems since the 25 January revolution. The period that followed the revolution saw an irregular distribution of program services," the minister said.
Currently, more than 2.5 million births are recorded in Egypt annually. If the population growth should continue at such rates, it will contribute to the decline in developmental projects, which will in turn lead to a decrease in an individual’s share of services rendered.
During a meeting with journalists, the minister said that modern development indicators point to an increase in the number of families below the poverty line and a decrease in employment rates among females, which will negatively affect population growth and living standards.
With regards to the ministry’s budget, Youssef said, “We have LE40 million, which is insufficient. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb promised full support to carry out the national population strategy.”
The Population Ministry is one of the new ministries that joined the Cabinet during the recent reshuffle that took place last week.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
