File Photo: A school pupil being examined as part of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi s initiative for the early detection of anemia, obesity and dwarfism among primary school students. Al-Ahram
The current screening commenced on 6 December 2022, noted the spokesman for the ministry, Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar, and will continue until the end of the current school year in May.
The primary school initiative, which was launched in 2019, covers both Egyptian and non-Egyptian students across 30,000 different schools, both private and public, in all of Egypt’s governorates.
It comes under the umbrella of the larger 100 Million Healthy Lives presidential initiative for the early detection and treatment of many serious diseases.
According to recent government figures, the percentage of children in primary schools who suffer from anaemia was estimated at 33 percent, while 13.5 percent were estimated to suffer from obesity and five percent suffer from dwarfism.
The medical team starts off examinations by assessing students’ weight, height, and hemoglobin to screen for signs of malnutrition, Abdel-Ghaffar explained.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Dahi, the head of the General Health Insurance Authority, said that students who are found to suffer any of the illnesses screened for are referred to any of 255 Health Insurance clinics to undergo further examinations and receive treatment free of charge as well as routine follow-ups.
According to Tamer Samir, the coordinator of the initiative, a total of 2,400 medical teams are carrying out the initiative nationwide, with each team comprising a nurse, a laboratory technician and an administrator.
The team takes all precautionary measures during the initiative and educates students about these measures, he stressed.
The hotline 106 is available to answer all inquiries about the campaign, Samir noted.
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