31 January 2018 – The WHO country office in Egypt organized an informal meeting with the health development partners group on Monday 22 January 2017. The group includes UNAIDS, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNICEF, Médecins du monde, USAID, Médecins Sans Frontières and the United Nations Country Team.

“It was a good chance to arrange this meeting in conjunction with the launch of the new social health insurance law in Egypt,” said Dr John Jabbour, WHO Representative for Egypt during his welcoming speech.

WHO presented the findings of the costing study which was recently completed, in collaboration with national partners including the Ministry of Health and Population, as one of the projects that aims at producing evidence needed for the implementation of the new social health insurance reform in Egypt. The presentation was followed by a discussion on areas of potential support and a question and answer session.

This was followed by a round of briefings by the development partners group with each organization providing a brief about its plans and field work, with different partners and stakeholders in Egypt.

WHO presented the objectives for future meetings, and discussed the validity and usefulness of the forum as the only forum for health developmental partners to meet and to strategize interventions to provide full support to the health care system in Egypt.