Health ministry agrees a staged diabetes plan with a Harvard specialist, including free care projects for children
Around 55,000 children in Egypt measure their blood sugar and take insulin injections every single day, with their families living under constant worry about a severe low that can end in a coma, or a sharp high that brings thirst and dehydration. That figure sits inside a much larger picture: roughly 15 million Egyptians have type 2 diabetes, and are exposed to complications including kidney failure, loss of sight, nerve damage, and heart attacks and strokes. Dr Osama Hamdy, professor of internal medicine, diabetes and endocrinology at Harvard University, set out those numbers after meeting Health and Population Minister Dr Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, calling diabetes one of the most exhausting diseases Egyptians face.
Some support already exists and more is being built. The minister presented the "100 Million Health" campaign, which covers early detection of diabetes, alongside an initiative to supply children who have the condition with continuous glucose monitoring devices through the comprehensive health insurance system, phased by age group. Dr Ehab Nabil, director of the National Diabetes Institute, described the institute's work supporting patients both medically and psychologically.
Several projects offering free care are in the pipeline, which is the part most worth watching if you have a child with type 1 diabetes. Charitable work is already running in some Egyptian hospitals. A large charity project for children is due to open in the Sayeda Zeinab area under the umbrella of the Children's Care Association, and a centre is planned in Sheikh Zayed to provide comprehensive diabetes care, artificial pancreas technology and treatment for retinal complications. A specialised medical tourism track for diabetes treatment is also being set up.
What was agreed goes wider than any single clinic. Dr Hamdy and Dr Mohamed Hassany, assistant health minister for health initiatives, settled on an integrated plan to be delivered in several stages: establishing Egyptian nutrition guidelines, preventing type 2 diabetes, raising public awareness of type 1, improving early detection of both types, expanding the use of modern treatment technology, and widening the services available to children with type 1 diabetes across the country's governorates. Hamdy also presented the programmes now used internationally in medical nutrition therapy, weight reduction, achieving remission in early-stage type 2 diabetes, new technologies for type 1, and the future role of artificial intelligence in treatment.