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Healthcare and specific diseases
p. 64-65
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| 16% | 40% | 2017 |
| Percentage of adults suffering from diabetes in 2017 | Percentage of deaths caused by cardio-vascular disease in 2016 | Adoption of the Universal Health Care Act |
| Sources: CAPMAS; International Diabetes Federation; WHO | ||
1While Egypt can boast a very satisfactory level of vaccination coverage, the country is notable for widespread nicotine addiction, hepatitis C and diabetes, as well as a record prevalence of obesity. A largely sedentary life style, unbalanced nutrition emphasising quantity, sweet and fatty foods, are all risk factors, as are the use of pesticides and environmental pollution. Cardio-vascular conditions, diseases of the liver, and high blood pressure are the three primary causes of death.
2The population has been faced with deteriorating public hospital services (to the benefit of the private sector) and with regular shortages of medicines since 2014. This is coupled with difficulties faced by the pharmaceutical industry, which is obliged by the regulatory framework to limit prices, and was weakened by the devaluation of the Egyptian pound in 2016.
3.20 Cartoon in the newspaper Al-Masri al-Yom, 2014, about conditions in public hospitals

"Don’t worry. That species isn’t poisonous."
Nicotine addiction, diabetes, hepatitis C
3More than half of all Egyptian males over ten years of age smoke daily. For several centuries the water pipe or shisha has been central to sociability in Egypt and it is still available in most street cafés. Tobacco, whether consumed in the form of (cheap) cigarettes or in shisha, is responsible for an increase in chronic diseases (lung cancer, pulmonary illnesses, strokes and coronary conditions). Almost a quarter of the adult population suffers from high blood pressure. The government plans increased taxation on tobacco and related products.
4Egypt is among the top ten countries with the greatest number of diabetics. According to the International Diabetes Federation, the country could count 8.2 million people, aged 20-79, suffering from diabetes in 2017, with a further 2.2 million prediabetics. Fifty-three per cent of diabetics are undiagnosed. Egypt spends the least on diabetes in the MENA region ($116 per patient per annum). Pesticides are a major risk factor for Type 2 diabetes and resistance to insulin.
5In 2008 Egypt had one of the highest rates of hepatitis C in the world, according to the WHO, a situation that could in part be attributed to the vaccination campaign against schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia) in the 1960s to 1980s, which was a source of multiple infections. The prevalence rate has declined thanks to the widespread use of inexpensive treatments, and had fallen to 7% of 15-59 year olds in 2014. Insufficient sterilisation and disinfection within healthcare facilities increased disease transmission. Hepatitis C represents the main cause of death since liver transplant procedures are rare. In 2018 a vast hepatitis C screening campaign was launched by the State with a view to eliminating the disease by 2022.
HIV/AIDS
6With only 16,000 individuals involved, and a prevalence rate of 0.1% in 2017, Egypt is officially unconcerned by AIDS, a disease that is associated with homosexuality and deviant behaviour. Nonetheless, UNAIDS has drawn attention to the very rapid expansion of the epidemic, with a rise of 30% per annum, especially amongst the young. A national database is currently being established. Screening, although anonymous and free of charge, is not common through fear of social ostracism. Actual patient care is made difficult by moral prejudices, and the fear of infection among medical personnel who lack training, having encountered little or no relevant instruction in medical schools or discussion at conferences. Identification of the disease is a challenge to be faced in order to contain the spread.
Healthcare, an explicit priority since 2017
7Healthcare is one of the priorities of the 2014 constitution and of President Sisi’s second term. Public expenditure on health, less than 2% of GDP in 2014, should exceed 3% according to the constitution. The Egyptian government has boosted campaigns for the care and screening of hepatitis C, anaemia, dwarfism, poliomyelitis and obesity. Above all, to confront the problem of those with no medical insurance, a universal healthcare act has been adopted which envisages a minimal coverage for all with a medical card. The reform has been rolled out in five governorates and will be extended to the whole of the country by 2032.
3.21 Percentage of daily smokers by gender and age group in 2017

3.22 Excess weight and malnutrition

3.23 Life expectancy and death in Egypt

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An Atlas of Contemporary Egypt
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