Dr. Abla El-Alfi, Deputy Minister of Health and Population, inspected several health facilities in Dakahlia Governorate, in implementation of directives from Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, to monitor workflow and ensure the quality of services provided to citizens.
The tour began with a visit to the Menyet Sandoub Family Medicine Unit, which serves 5,000 families and currently holds only 1,329 beneficiary files. The Deputy Minister instructed the development of a plan to attract non-frequent visitors by activating the role of rural health leaders and intensifying field research to identify reasons for low attendance, ensuring comprehensive healthcare reaches everyone.
At the pharmacy and milk distribution committee, she emphasized that support for breastfeeding relies on three levels: the counseling room, the milk committee, and the breastfeeding clinic, to provide necessary support before dispensing formula milk. She also confirmed the availability of sufficient stock of iron, folic acid, and antibiotics, and praised the regular monitoring of anemia cases.
The Deputy Minister reviewed the activities of the Family Club, which serves around 400 Egyptian and refugee children (aged 6–18), offering psychological support, life skills development, recreational activities, and parental awareness programs to protect children from abuse and bullying.
She stressed the integration of roles between family counseling providers and family development teams in encouraging the use of long-term family planning methods, to ensure optimal child care during the first 1,000 days of life, while committing to provide counseling before marriage and the first pregnancy prior to issuing the medical examination certificate.
At the Safe Women Clinic, she requested a detailed report on the referral pathway for supporting abused women. She also inspected the physiotherapy clinic, which is being converted into a specialized clinic for children with special needs, including speech therapy, psychological and developmental support, alongside physiotherapy.
At the end of the tour, she directed the Directorate of Health Affairs to quickly repair mobile family planning clinics, after detecting that about 30% were out of service due to technical malfunctions or lack of drivers, to ensure services reach underserved areas.
In a related context, the Deputy Minister held a meeting of the Regional Population Council in the governorate with Major General Tarek Marzouk, Governor of Dakahlia, as part of reviewing the 2025 population file achievements. She presented indicators for the 2024–2025 period, praising the governorate’s success in reducing the total fertility rate from 2.65 to 1.99, the birth rate from 17.9 to 15 per 1,000 people, and the natural increase from 10.5 to 9.4.
She commended the decline in illiteracy from 18% to 16%, and the rise in women’s participation in the labor market to about 15%, stressing that women’s education and employment are fundamental pillars for population balance. She also pointed to challenges such as the decline in contraceptive protection rates from 41.5% to 37.8%, and the rise in unmet needs to 14.4%, calling for strengthening long-term methods and correcting misconceptions.
She affirmed that 2026 and 2027 will be sensitive years requiring collective efforts to spread messages about spacing pregnancies (3–5 years), to ensure child care and family readiness. The governor concluded the meeting by confirming the continuation of joint efforts, congratulating Dakahlia on joining UNESCO’s Learning Cities network, and stressing the achievement of composite population indicators exceeding 70% by 2030 in green zones.
