Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Healthcare Protection Policies During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons Towards The Implementation Of The New Egyptian Universal Health Insurance Law, Alaa Ghannam, Ayman Sebae

Faculty Journal Articles

On March 11th 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. The spread of the virus in many countries has exceeded the capabilities of the traditional healthcare systems and has challenged government plans to contain it.

The COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Egypt at a time when the first steps in the implementation of the newly ratified law on social health insurance were taking place. Law number 2 for the year 2018 saw the first steps of its implementation in Port Said governorate. As the realisation of the law is proceeding in other governorates, the pandemic and …

After Covid-19: Mitigating Domestic Gender-Based Violence In Egypt In Times Of Emergency, Diana Magdy, Hind Ahmed Zaki

Faculty Journal Articles

In times of crises and emergencies, violence against women tends to increase. The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in severe precautionary measures such as social isolation, physical distancing, staying at home, curfews and lockdowns, which brought “normal” life to a halt and created a temporary convergence between the public and the private. The pandemic has forced the global community to turn its gaze back to the private, and compelled them to pay attention to the old/new problem of gender-based violence, particularly, domestic violence that spiked during the pandemic. Against such a backdrop, and using a critical feminist lens that analyzes …

Establishing An Institutional Framework For The Handicrafts Clusters In Egypt/ إنشاء إطار مؤسسي لتجمعات الحرف اليدوية في مصر, Dina Elkhishin, Mariam Walid, Nada Kassem, Noheir Khairy

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

The Egyptian handicrafts sector, which employs more than a million Egyptians, and contributes to local economic growth and to the export market, has a lot of potentials but faces numerous challenges. Aware of the potential of the sector, the Egyptian government is currently focusing on the development of handicrafts, mostly organized as clusters. Nevertheless, artisans face numerous challenges, some of which are related to access to financial resources and raw materials, access to markets especially international ones, access to marketing opportunities, access to technical know-how, among others. Whilst handicrafts production is mostly cluster-based in Egypt, it is highly informal. One …

Addressing Food Insecurity In Egypt: Towards Sustaining Food Access For All/ الأمن الغذائي في مصر نحو استدامة وصول الغذاء للجميع, Alaa Mazloum, Abdelrahman Rizk, Norhan Muhab, Zainab Asal

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

This policy paper sheds light on the current challenges that Egypt faces to ensure food access for all. In attempts to underscore the root causes of food insecurity in Egypt, this paper looks at the country’s geographical and agricultural national policies, food pricing, household expenditures on food as well as the challenges imposed on the country by climate change. These factors directly challenge the country’s ability to achieve food security for all by 2050. Although the Government of Egypt (GoE) launched pro-poor policies that aim at reducing the economic burden on vulnerable groups, the government needs to explore other feasible …

Developing Monitoring And Evaluation Dynamic Systems For Alternative Families With Fostered Children/ تصميم أنظمة ديناميكية للمتابعة والتقييم للأسر البديلة للأطفال بالكفالة, Basma Mahmoud, Dina Refaei, Hend Ahmed, Khadiga Embaby

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Since 2016, the Egyptian Government has made many improvements to the Alternative Families System that aims to provide children without parental care with families. Yet, these families still face some obstacles in the monitoring and follow-up system after adoption. The paper sheds light on these obstacles; the roots and solution. We depend on qualitative methodological approaches, based on a purposive sample of key informants consisting of governmental officials, national and international entities, using in-depth interviews as the main tool for data collection, and surveys. As a result of our research, we found that there are limitations that affect the increasing …

Combating The High Prevalence Of Obesity Among Egyptian Households: A Pilot Study: Port-Said Households/ مكافحة السمنة في المجتمع المصري: دراسة تجريبية في بورسعيد, Asmaa Sedky, Marwa Gaber, Noha Magdy, Shaimaa El Safoury

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Obesity is a major public health issue in Egypt and its repercussions are not only limited to the health dimension but also extend to affecting the productive capacity of the citizens. This adversely affects the overall fundamentals of the Egyptian economy. Moreover, there is a current political interest in promoting the health and well-being of the citizens which is reflected in the recent 100 Million Seha massive campaign that measured the weight and height of millions of Egyptians.

By applying the decision-making rule which has to do adhere to the equity, administrative, and political criteria, we recommend adjusting the Egyptian …

Post Covid-19 Tourism: Promoting The Holy Family Trail As A Niche Religious Tourism Destination/ الترويج ل مسار العائلة :Covid- السياحة بعد 19 المقدسة كوجهة للسياحة الدينية, Hend Elbehary, Mona Elsayed, Nada Abdelghany, Yasmine Mandour

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

The tourism sector constitutes significant importance for the Egyptian economy, with a contribution of 11.9% to the GDP and total employment of 2.49 million in 2018. The sector has different segments including both mass and niche tourism, where Egypt is heavily dependent on the former. Over the past 10 years, the sector was hammered by several internal and external intermittent hits, resulting in instability in the sector and fluctuations in its revenues that have consequently pulled down the foreign currency reserves. The current challenge of COVID-19 has introduced a new global norm that hurdled the mobility of mass tourist groups …

Making Small Families A Social Notion In Egypt/ ترسيخ مبدأ الأسر الصغيرة كمفهوم اجتماعي في مصر, Alaa Abdelaziz, Menna Roshdy, Omar Zein, Souraya El Assiouty

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Population growth and fertility rates have witnessed fluctuations over the years in Egypt. The government’s efforts to manage the rising trend were not sustainable, leading the total population to 101 million in October 2020. Such a rising trend risks aggravating the pressure on the country’s resources threatens to undermine improvements in overall economic progress and decrease opportunities for prosperity. Although Egypt is currently enjoying a demographic window with a youth bulge with 60% of its population being below the age of 30, this age group requires tailored services which translates to high demand for health and family planning services, education, …

Water Security In Egypt Issues And Perspectives/ الأمن المائي في مصر: المشاكل والآفاق, Kareem Mostafa, Mariam Allam, Sarah El-Fiky, Seba Issa, Sherif Mohyeldeen

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Under the looming threat of water scarcity, the government of Egypt (GoE) must impose effective policies that promote water conservation to ensure water security for the future of its population. This policy paper seeks to define, survey, evaluate, and recommend prospective policies that can address the problem of current water scarcity and achieve water security. This paper focuses on two research sub-questions: 1) How can the government implement policies that can help Egypt's water conservation? 2) How can Egypt create alternative water sources?

Increasing The Retention Of The Health Workforce In Egypt: Improving Work Environments/ الاحتفاظ بعاملي الرعاية الصحية في مصر: تحسين بيئة العمل, Ebaa El-Kalamawie, Eman Gamal, Hoda Hassan, Nagui Salama

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

Egypt faces an urgent public health crisis which is a shortage in its health workforce capacity. The main reason for the lack of health workforce retention is the working environment. The Ministry of Health has multiple options to improve the quality of the working environment for health workers. Three interrelated policy options are proposed in this brief: 1) Enhancing organizational trust, 2) providing financial and non-financial incentives, 3) Developing a digital human resource system providing multiple services.

Acknowledging the economic constraints, the suggested options are tailored to be cost-effective. Policymakers can start immediately with their trust repair and trust-building initiatives …

Implementing A New Performance Management System In The Egyptian Civil Service / تطبيق نظام جديد لإدارة الأداء في قطاع الخدمة المدنية في مصر, Reham Mohamed Yousef, Samar Roushdy, Yara Abo El Waffa, Yasmine Mohamed Badr

Papers, Posters, and Presentations

The policy paper discusses the recently ratified Civil Service Law (CSL) No. 81/2016 with a special focus on the potential implementation pathways regarding the performance management system ofgovernment employees. In an attempt to combat the inefficiencies in state bureaucracy to achieve more economic growth, the CSL comes as a legislative instrument within an ambitious national agenda for administrative reform in Egypt seekinga better performance of the public sector institutions.

What Can Be Done To Foster Multisectoral Population Policies? Summary Report Of A Seminar, Population Council, Overseas Development Council

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo was a watershed moment in the definition of population policies. The meeting put an end to the unproductive debate on which is more instrumental in achieving voluntary fertility decline: providing family planning (FP) services or improving social and economic development. The answer was that both are essential. The Cairo meeting also defined the most desirable services and the kind of development that was most empowering, particularly with respect to achieving reproductive choice. Despite this strong dual message from Cairo, only the call for a move away from a narrow vision …