The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) has launched the Egyptian-African Health Alliance to expand cooperation with African countries, as well as strengthen Egypt’s medical diplomacy.
The alliance was co-founded with the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Population, the General Federation Of NGOs, and Wadi El-Nil Hospital, said the EDA in a statement on Wednesday.
According to its founding statement, the Egyptian-African Health Alliance will “become the link between Egypt and African countries.”
The Cameroonian Ambassador and Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps to Egypt, Mohamadou Labarang, called the alliance a “unique project with noble service and development goals.”
Egypt’s Ambassador to Morocco, Ashraf Ibrahim, also EAPD’s Secretary-General, stressed the importance of strengthening Egyptian efforts in South-South cooperation.
Ibrahim also spoke about how Egypt’s health sector aims to launch capacity-building and health training programs, in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals.
EDA Chairman Tamer Essam indicated that the alliance’s goal is to “open channels of cooperation with African countries” and “unify standards” on the pharmaceutical front.
Hazem Khamis, Director General of Wadi El-Nil Hospital, explained that the alliance will provide all required health services and surgical operations to arriving Africans, in addition to sending medical convoys across the continent.
For his part, Hossam Hosny, Chairman of the Higher Committee for Health Specialties at the Ministry of Health and Population said that the alliance will be “a link between major international universities in obtaining scientific qualifications; high-level training programs will be designed specifically for African expatriates.”
Egyptian-funded facilities include the AFRI Egypt Medical Centre in Jinja, Uganda, which was inaugurated in 2021, and the Egyptian Medical Center in Gambia, which is in the final stages of construction, according to Heba Youssef, Executive Coordinator of the Egyptian-African Health Alliance.
Youssef also highlighted Egypt’s goal of providing telemedicine service projects across Africa.
She added that Egypt aims to “support the private medical sector, including hospitals, laboratories, and radiology centres, and to provide medical and therapeutic services in African countries.”
Source: Ahram Online