With its population growing by one million people every 10 months, Egypt is mulling over offering incentives to mothers who are able to restrict their families to two children. This will all be part of a national program dubbed the “National Project for the Protection of the Egyptian Family” that was chaired by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly. Along with Madbouly, the project will also be run by ministries of health, information and other relevant entities.
Currently Egypt has a population of over 107 million people and the number is only growing, the country hopes to lower the average birth rate and lead a new era of family planning in Egypt through this new proposal. This new project will be Egypt’s most comprehensive and ambitious attempt at dealing with its extensive population growth. When it comes to the applicability of the incentive, any woman who is 45 years or older with two children is eligible to receive the incentive. It’s also eligble for women whose children are born at “reasonable” intervals.
Hazem El Guindy who is a member of the parliament’s upper house said that the incentives should include social security coverage as well as reduced costs in health care and education. Beyond birth control, the project has bigger goals including aiding women aged 18-35 to begin 1 million micro projects as well as training 2 million women who are aged 18-45 on how to run projects. It also plans to offer free birth control services and devices as well as include family planning as part of the curriculum in schools and universities.
