Access to Women’s Healthcare in Egypt

Originally posted on Boston University's International Relations Review Blog

While Egypt has seen some improvement in healthcare over the past few decades,

women’s access to healthcare still remains a large issue. Compared with other countries in the region, Egypt has one of the lowest government expenditures spent in health. According to theWorld Health Organization, for every 1,000 people in Egypt, there are 0.79 doctors. Political and economic crises throughout the past decade have caused the government to address healthcare minimally.

Unfortunately, cultural elements have created a significant gap between women’s access

to healthcare and men’s access to healthcare. While the healthcare providers already need

improvement, most women are not seeking medical attention available. In 1999, a study known as the “Giza Study” found that often women in Egypt fail to use the resources provided. Most women are not educated on reproductive health, despite the significant presence of reproductive issues. For example, out of the Egyptian women who participated in the study, half were diagnosed with a reproductive tract infection (RTI). Additionally, more than half of these women had genital prolapse or were anemic. However, these women were unaware of these issues and did not see them as problems to address. Many believed that as long as they were able to have children they were fine, even despite painful symptoms.While this is mostly due to the lack of awareness of these issues, the patriarchal culture prevents women from reaching out and keeps them focused on childbearing. According to research in Jordan, most women feel more comfortable being treated by female doctors. Many believe increasing the amount of female doctors in Egypt would allow more women to seek treatments.

Luckily, there have been some improvements made since the Giza Study 20 years ago.

For example, from 1990 to 2013 there was 62.5% decrease in maternal mortality. Increased

access to women’s healthcare has greatly impacted their young children as well: under the age of 5 mortality has decreased 75% since 1990. Egypt’s family planning programs have improved as well. Contraceptives were only used by 18.8% during the 1970s, however by 2008 was used by 60.3%. The government has specifically increased access and education toward contraceptives and family planning after establishing overpopulation as one of the biggest challenges.

Despite these improvements, access to women’s healthcare is unequal across the nation:

most of these developments are only found in the wealthier and urban region of Lower Egypt. Most of these healthcare improvements fail to reach the rural populations in Upper Egypt.Women poorer regions are 20% less likely to receive antenatal care than wealthy women.Additionally, while the country has increased the number of healthcare providers, there are still a low number of providers in Upper Egypt. Research found women in Upper Egypt are two times more likely to receive preventative health care. This has created a significant gap between the access to healthcare among the poor and wealthy female population. Currently, the United States Agency for International Development is working with the Egypt Ministry of Health and Population to address these issues. Furthermore, UNICEF, Healthy Mother Healthy Child Project, Community Health Workers and other organizations have helped improve women’s healthcare in Egypt in the past, and hope to change the current issues for the future.