Challenges

Global health has been facing unprecedented threats, especially with the eruption of unknown diseases, most notably the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This has put extra pressure on health care systems and infrastructure around the world, where risk is being intensified in already weakened, underdeveloped regions, in particular within Africa.

In many parts of the African continent, health services are already limited, with severe shortage in remote and border areas for many reasons, among which are poor governance and insecurity. These factors put local communities at maximum risk, not just for common infectious diseases but also unforeseen ones. Therefore, it is critical to address two major aspects in this regard, namely the provision of basic healthcare services, especially for deprived areas and the improvement of existing services in other areas. To achieve this goal, resources must be directed towards the promotion of good health and well-being, development of sustainable health infrastructure, boosting of knowledge and expertise and the accurate collection of data.

Toward a Solution

The health sector is one of many topics in the scope of work of the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD). EAPD prioritizes cooperation with all developing countries, especially in Africa, to boost the quality and availability of health services through multiple interconnected approaches, all of which fall under the umbrella of what is known as Health Diplomacy. Health Diplomacy is the practice by which governments and non-state actors attempt to coordinate global policy solutions to improve global health, and its significance is highlighted especially after the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. EAPD approaches in this area incorporate a number of elements, such as capacity building programmes, medical aid, provision of experts, medical convoys, mobile clinics, health education, telemedicine and establishing or supporting health facilities spread across many countries.

Within capacity building, the EAPD offers training and courses covering various topics in the field of health to improve capabilities and readiness in the field of health. These programmes are organized in collaboration with distinguished public and private health institutions in Egypt and topics include Health Quality Assurance, Nursing Care, Health Economics, Women’s Health, Early Diagnosis of Breast Cancer, Infection Control and Fighting Infectious Diseases.

EAPD delivers medical aid to many countries. Since 2014, 94 batches of medical assistance have been delivered to over 37 countries, including many African countries and Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Indonesia, Ukraine, Yemen, and others. These medical aid batches help countries become more resilience in fighting systemic health conditions, enhance local health system readiness and make up for shortages of supplies. Batches include medical equipment and material (sutures, bandages, masks, gloves, etc.), medications, vaccines and devices. Examples include having sent infection control kits and oxygen tanks to Zambia, medication and medical equipment to Sierra Leon and spare parts for the dialysis units in the military hospital in Burundi. Within the context of fighting COVID-19, the EAPD offered multiple batches of equipment, medication and vaccines listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as necessary to counter the spread of infection.

EAPD entered a cooperative agreement with the International Vaccine Institute in South Korea to build better capacities and resilience against disease. This collaboration boosts efforts to help other countries deal with threats and challenges to their health systems, especially through the provision of efficient doses of vaccines. This is exceptionally important for developing countries, mainly in Africa, where health infrastructures are significantly underdeveloped and where people are at highest risk. As an example, the EAPD provided several countries with batches of important vaccines, such as meningococcal vaccines to Togo, cholera vaccines to Niger and Zambia and meningococcal and hepatitis B vaccines to Burundi.

Regarding EAPD’s promotion of health diplomacy, health personnel are dispatched to work in their fields within programme countries, according to local needs. This includes doctors of various specialties, nursing staff and assistants. These experts are dispatched on a short-term or long-term basis to provide quality health services to local communities and help train counterparts in the country of assignment. For example, EAPD has dispatched a dentist to work in the Egyptian-Gaboni Center in Gabon, an internal medicine consultant to Uganda and a surgeon to Burundi.

EAPD dispatches medical convoys to underdeveloped areas and regions with fragile health situations in Africa. This is done through a response mechanism that assists with urgent humanitarian crises, among which are health emergencies. Such convoys help maintain the availability of basic health services to local communities. The medical convoys dispatched by the EAPD undertake several functions, including urgent surgical interventions. They also provide diagnostic and treatment approaches to widespread health conditions, covering all specialties.

EAPD also sends mobile clinics to various areas within programme countries with the aim of reaching out to the remote and border areas and areas suffering from a lack of standing health institutions. These mobile clinics offer flexible and viable options for treating isolated and vulnerable groups as well as newly displaced populations. At the same time, they offer the opportunity for local communities to receive highly regarded and efficient health services in the fields of priority to the local population. These mobile clinics are dispatched in coordination with reputable and world-class health providers in Egypt.

Realizing the importance of education in creating better futures, health education comes at the top of EAPD priorities. EAPD provides full scholarships for African students in the medical field at Egyptian public and private universities, such as Cairo University and Ain Shams University. These scholarships cover all fields of the health sector and at the time of writing 22 students were studying in Egypt.

Under the commitment of expanding Health Diplomacy, the EAPD established a network of health facilities around the African continent, including hospitals, polyclinics and departments. These facilities provide high quality health services to the local communities of these countries. The most recent strategy is to convert these institutions into comprehensive health facilities that not only provide basic health services, but also act as hubs for drug distribution, stockpiling health supplies and training centres for local staff.

As a qualitative leap in offering better quality health services and shar- ing expertise among health workers around the globe, telemedicine has been included in EAPD approaches to boost the promotion of good health for everyone. EAPD collaborates with globally pioneering medical corporations in the field of telemedicine. Currently, EAPD is surveying the prospects of supplying African countries, either through Egyptian health facilities within these countries or through their national institutions, with the equipment, tools and operating systems needed to establish a modern infrastructure for telemedicine services. Those systems would be connected with a network of expert consultants in different specialties to provide diagnostic and treatment services for the local populations in these countries.

The EAPD programmes gain sustainability and credibility, and are helping make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, through partnerships with some of the best national institutions in Egypt and programme countries (beneficiaries). Partners include the Children Cancer Hospital 57357, Magdy Yacoub Heart Foundation, Urology and Nephrology Mansoura Center (Mohammed Ghoneim Center), and most recently the Egyptian General Authority of Healthcare.