These services were provided through 1,460 medical facilities distributed in the target villages, elaborated Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar, the health ministry’s spokesperson, adding that this comes in addition to the development of the infrastructure of health facilities in these areas.

Furthermore, he said that the breakdown of these services is 26 services provided through the healthcare and nursing sector to 27.2 million patients; six family planning services provided to 10.5 million citizens;  20 services provided by the curative medicine sector benefiting around 20 million citizens; in addition to seven services provided by convoys in the therapeutic medicine sector that benefited 630,288 citizens.

The Decent Life Presidential Initiative , which was launched in 2019, encompasses a series of countryside-focused national infrastructure projects to develop the country’s poorest villages. The initiative is targeting 4,658 villages across the country with an estimated budget of EGP 700 billion (about $44.6 billion).

Decent Life aims to improve the standards of living, infrastructure, and services of 60 percent of Egypt’s 103-million-strong population living in the targeted villages.

More specifically, the initiative aims to establish networks for clean water, sewage, electricity, gas, and communications. It also includes awareness and training programmes for citizens in rural areas and will provide village-based jobs that empower its beneficiaries — including households in which the primary breadwinner is a woman — along with funding for micro- and medium-sized projects.

The first phase of the project has a budget estimated at EGP 250 billion and covers 1,500 villages, according to official statements, and is due to be completed by the end of FY2021/22.