Deteriorated health conditions in the Egyptian countryside…. Need improvement
LCHR issued its report “health conditions in the Egyptian countryside”, issue no 22, social and economical series synchronously with the USA war against Afghanistan. This war ignores all calls of civil society organizations, which explain that there are causes for terrorism and violence that couldn’t be solved by war. Otherwise, we have to amend policies of poverty, discrimination, incomplete justice in order to save safe life, adequate income, work opportunity, education, health care and other human rights for all individuals all over the world. Consequently, we can stop violence and terrorism. We join with all international protests against implementation of market laws in all sectors especially in the fields concerning people main needs like food, water, health services, housing, etc. Therefore, we can reveal the importance of this report that is interested in studying health conditions in the Egyptian countryside in order to improve it as a part of social and economical rights.
This report is divided into parts;
· The first part; destitution of both protection and treatment: This part reveals two main features of health conditions in the countryside that are; destitution of protection and disability for treatment that are connected with upset of developmental projects that are directed to the countryside especially projects of treatment institutions that is beside continuos downfall of living conditions of poor farmers. This part shows these features through four points;
· Living standard downfall:
In this part, we depend on report of International Health Organization that asserts that malnutrition leads to health problems. This part shows that farmers’ conditions become worth after implementation of farm lease act that decreases tenants’ incomes with about two milliards pounds per year, which weakens their abilities to spend for treatment and health care in addition to their disabilities to have integral and healthy food, suitable clothes and enough rest. The report points to deduction of American Academy for Science, which ensures that malnutrition through young age affects on human mental ability. For example, farmers’ food doesn’t contain suitable quantities of protein or vitamin that they have only two meals per day that consist of beans, starches or cheese. Then the report asserts that implementation of the law leads to sudden income collapse of 904 thousands farmers in Egypt, who are responsible to pay for about six millions person. Therefore, they are obligated to work more hours in hard activities that leads to their illness. Consequently, negligence of both nutrition and rest is real health catastrophe.
· Negligence of infrastructure projects:
It shows the side effects of diminution of infrastructure projects like projects of pure water, rural sewerage in addition to inhabitants’ usage for polluted water resources that only 50% of inhabitants in the countryside make use of pure water. The reports relays on results of many researches, which assert that 18 million persons (30% of inhabitants) are attacked by belharisia while the international proportion is about 5%. Moreover, the international bank reported in 2000 that more than 22 million persons couldn’t find pure water that resulted in attack of 400 person in Pelkas village, Dakahlia governate by typhoid and nephritis because of polluted water that contains arsenic and aluminum oxides.
· Negligence of treatment institutions:
It points to the governmental expenditure in 2000 for health services that is about 3.8% from the total national expenditure, which is considered as very few proportion. The report explains effects of structural adaptation on health sector in addition to new amendments concerning health insurance. It emphasizes that about 10% of Egyptians suffer from fatal hepato-cellular failure. The strange issue is that the American Maryland University sees that the main reason that leads to attack a lot of people by many epidemics is the national campaign for struggling belharisia in addition to negligence and corruption of treatment institutions and unjust distribution of these institutions between rural and civilized areas.
· Environmental pollution:
It shows resources of environmental pollution that people face in water, air and soil as a crop of agriculture that the agricultural drains throw about 16 milliards cubic meter water in the Nile in addition to the industrial groups that threw its wastes in the Nile and tons of rubbish in the countryside that attacks man by various fatal parasites like asthma, typhoid fever and dysentery. On the other hand, there are no trials that aim to decrease pollution. This part emphasizes that there are some connected factors that affect farmers’ health in the Egyptian countryside that lead to tragic results. Moreover, poverty and downfall of living standard that is resulted by the economical policies, represents the most dangerous factor because it prevents farmers to have protection or even treatment.
· The second part; samples from the Egyptian countryside:
Through the center’s monitoring for four villages “eastern Ghiata in Beni Suief governate, El-Riad and Kefir El-Bahita in Dakahlia governate and Gizzaya in Giza governate”, it reveals reasons of health problems that are connected with the governmental programs and policies especially concerning poor people. We made some meetings with tenants whose lands were evicted according to farm lease act that became seasonal labors in these villages in order to discover effects of changes in incomes on treatment and protection in addition to its effects on the right of food. This part shows the environmental pollution resources in these villages in addition to usage of pesticides and chemicals. After that it narrates a story of Ms. Bahia whose husband died and left four children for her. The land of this lady is evicted that pushes her kids to work in quarries to save money to satisfy their main needs. The whole members of this family eat twice a day whose meals consist of bread, beans, cheese and dates. About their clothes, they are used to buying clothes once a year. Their poverty affects negatively on their continuity in education and their ability to supply pure water for their house because of its high cost.
· The third part; results and recommendations:
It ends for general deduction that is the living and health conditions in villages especially of poor farmers are similar that more than 50% of poor farmers have no pure water and 90% of them eat no animal protein in their food. The reports asserts that we haven’t save health insurance and establish clinics only that if we need to improve health conditions in Egypt, we have to
- Improve farmers’ incomes and help them to protect themselves from diseases by saving healthy food, healthy houses, pure water, sewerage, etc. we should rescue the agricultural environment from industrial and chemicals pollutants.
- Interest with hospitals concerning its equipment, doctors and nursery by applying real monitoring over these hospitals and saving suitable wages for workers in these hospitals to avoid their negligence and abusing.
- Involve new categories under umbrella of health insurance like children labourers and tenants.
- Complete establishing of sewerage projects in addition to maintaining of old projects to prevent farmers’ attack by dangerous diseases.
The center calls all the officials in Egypt to interest with these recommendations and work for its execution. Moreover, the center asks the Egyptian government to review health policies concerning medicine prices in order to avoid downfall of environmental conditions. Our demands are directed to policies makers in the whole world whom we ask to review policies of markets freedom in all sectors that lead to more diseases, poverty and violence. We ask all governmental and non-governmental organizations in Egypt to work to execute these recommendations in order to save farmers’ rights in food, treatment, healthy housing and clean environment that guarantees more just and humanistic world.