Health & Education

After decades of improvements, Egypt has some of the region’s best public health indicators, and in some cases it delivers international-standard care. However, the precarious political and economic situation means that progress on reform has been patchy. With population pressures, new and old health care challenges – including rising non-communicable diseases rates and a high level of hepatitis infections – alongside a scarcity of resources, there is no doubt that the current system is stretched. With public funds limited, an increasing role for the private sector is looking likely, creating new opportunities for international participation in health financing and provision. With 20m people in some form of education, Egypt has the largest student body in the MENA region. However, after several decades of progress, the system now lags behind international standards. Due to a shortage of resources, top-heavy administration, the difficulty of recruiting good teachers and out-dated curricula, schools and universities are not producing the qualified graduates Egypt needs for economic development. Factors including patchy standards at government institutions, rising incomes among the middle classes and a growing number of jobs that require higher levels of education have seen an increase in the number of private schools in the past 20 years. This chapter contains an interview with Hossam Badrawi, Managing Director, Nile Badrawi Hospital, and Professor, Cairo University Medical School.