Some 85 percent of Egyptian women are overweight with 48 percent of that percentage suffering obesity, according to the 2014 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey (2014 EDHS) announced by Egypt’s health minister Sunday.
Minister Adel Adawy also revealed that 15 percent of children under five are overweight while another eight percent from the same average age are underweight, among other medical problems he said have increased due to bad nutrition.
One of the consequences of bad nutrition is that one child in every five under five years old is dwarfed.
On the other hand, Adawy revealed child mortality rates keep decreasing, reaching 22 in every 1,000 new-born babies, and 27 in 1,000 children under five years old.
“This is directly related to the level of education of the mothers. Child death rates tend to decrease among mothers who have received better education. Having proper intervals between pregnancies is also a factor,” said Adawy, reviewing some of the report's findings
Birth by caesarean section has “horrifically” increased to 52 percent, “even to 76 percent in some governorates such as Port Said and Damietta.”
The 2014 EDHS is part of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) programme funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
USAID/Cairo was the main contributor in funding the EDHS survey.
Support for the survey was also provided by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
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