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July 12, 2010
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Prime Minister, Dr. Ahmed Nazif, chaired a meeting of the Supreme Committee for Population, with the participation of Ministers of Finance, Economic Development, Information, Health, Local Development, Social Solidarity, Population, as well as number of experts of the National Council for Population, in order to discuss the population situation, and implementation of the Strategic Plan approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. The plan covered means to face the increasing population, population indicators, as well as the future vision for dealing with such issue, taking into consideration the economic and social impact.
The Minister of State for Family and Population, Mushira Khatab, presented a report on the ministry's role in coordinating with the concerned ministries and governorates, either through holding seminars, workshops, or training programmes. Mrs. Khatab referred to effort taken, in cooperation with the Information Ministry, concerning launching media campaigns, through visual and written media, aiming at raising the societal awareness regarding the negative impact of the rising population. She added that most governorates have established small models for dealing with the increasing population problem, in addition to the institutional development in the National Council for Population, in order to enhance its capacity in facing such issue. Moreover, the Ministry coordinated with NGOs and universities in this concern, as well as the envisaged cooperation with the private sector working in health sector, shall be carried out during the coming period.
The report also referred to efforts of the Ministry of State for Family and Population at the international level, in the framework of contacts with countries and international organizations aiming at increasing the resources of Ministry programmes, and benefiting from their experiences in facing the population increase.
The prime minister expressed concerns regarding the population increase indicators during the last years, at the time they were working to reduce such rate. Dr. Nazif underlined the necessity of exerting more efforts at the governmental and societal levels to raise the societal awareness towards negative impact of population increase, taking into consideration burdens of such increasing rates, including on the infrastructure and services requirements, at a time the State's resources cannot be increased at a matching rate.
The prime minister stated that the coming period shall witness a significant change in the population plan trend, with a view of improving its effectiveness through the following;
1- Supporting the primary health units in villages and governorates, especially the ones related to reproductive health.
2- Determining number of targeted locations which largely suffer from population increase and enforcing more programmes therein, through using the existed health units or sending specialized medical convoys.
3- Encouraging physicians to work in this sector.
It is worth noting that the Cabinet of Ministers has approved a strategic plan to deal with the population increase 2009-2012, and the Ministry of Population is responsible to implement it in coordination with the concerned ministries and
governorates.
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