Egypt
Community and NGO Program
Activity Dates
2004-2007
Activity Summary
 The community program of the Communication for Healthy Living (CHL) project aims to improve the health of the people of Egypt through advocacy, empowerment, and alliance-building to promote and facilitate greater participation by all sectors of communities in their own health and well-being. The project nurtures community leaders through a series of activities that contribute not only to reaching specific health behavior objectives, but also to the building of a civil society through empowering participants to engage in a process of identifying and solving problems in their communities by collaborating with other stakeholders and government bodies. The overall approach positions health as an entry point for building civil society and civic participation at a local level where each household is recognized as the producer of its own health.
The CHL Community Program uses an integrated Health Package that includes activities such as newly married couples counseling, safe pregnancy and birth preparedness, post-partum home visits and infant/child health and nutrition sessions. Community Health Package Messages include the importance of communication, ensuring safe pregnancy and delivery, proper post-partum, neo-natal and infant care, hygiene, and family planning and birth spacing. Currently 120 villages have adopted the CHL Community Program in Qena, Minya and Fayoum governorates.
Description of the Community Program
 CHL’s community-based program, developed in close collaboration with HCP partner Save the Children, consists of a package of interventions designed to improve the health of individuals, families, and communities. Local Community Development Associations (CDAs) in the focal villages are at the center of the program, and take on the role of mobilizing and empowering the community through health-related activities.
The first component forms the foundation of the program: CDA Capacity Building. A novice CDA is teamed with a veteran CDA to share knowledge and skills towards building the capacity of the novice CDA. This approach is based on the “Living/Learning University” model. The veteran CDA is able to apply lessons learned from previous experiences, and as the novice CDA implements the family health package, it becomes a veteran CDA and passes the learning along to a CDA in another village. The novice CDA is guided through the series of activities that make up the Community Health program. (see next page)
Components of the Community Health Program
 Establish Village Health Committee: Based on identified community needs, together with the Village Council, the CDA forms a Village Health Committee (VHC), which develops activities designed to address the needs.- Conduct Village Assessment: The novice CDA is assisted in performing a village health assessment, and presents the results to the Village Council, the smallest tier of government.
- Revitalize Primary Healthcare (PCH) Unit Board: As specified by Ministerial Decree, the CDA works together with PHC Staff to review activities.
- Community Leadership: The CDA-led VHC marshals leadership from the community by identifying potential volunteers and leaders and holding a series of meetings, specifically:
- Arab Women Speak Out (AWSO) leadership trainings for women: The program focuses on empowering women to make better decisions regarding their own health and cultivates leaders in the community to promote healthy behavior. AWSO graduates are recruited as volunteers to implement specific outreach activities to spread health messages.
- Dawar meetings for men: The Dawar program (meetings of male community members and leaders) is aimed at changing male behavior and attitudes towards family health and securing their support for the health outreach activities occurring in their villages. In addition, Dawar meetings are used to help males identify and follow a process for meeting the needs of their villages.
- Family Health Interventions: Together with the CDA, the volunteers implement the family health package, as follows:
- Visits to newlyweds to introduce the health activities available in the community and provide counseling on family health issues.
- Ante-natal and safe delivery classes for pregnant women. (Adapted from Improving Pregnancy Outcomes Through Positive Deviance –IMPRESS.)
- Post-partum home visits from nurses and volunteers, with information on proper breastfeeding, importance of initiating family planning method within 40 days of delivery, and monitoring health of mother and infant. (Adapted from IMPRESS.)
- Health and nutrition classes for mothers with identified at-risk children. (Adapted from Nutrition, Education and Rehabilitation Program – NERP.)
Program Results
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The CHL community program has resulted in a 38% reduction in malnourished children in villages in El Minya governorate.
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The CHL community package leads to positive results on immediate health outcomes such as pregnancy and nutrition. It also contributes to longer term outcomes such as improved service provision and quality of life for each member of the village. Villages where the Community Health Program has been implemented show increased utilization of primary healthcare units and increased demand for health services.
Studies reflect that interventions targeting identified at-risk populations, combined with health service facility upgrades, are more cost-effective than service facility upgrades alone. CHL’s Community Health Program identifies at-risk community members and involves them in activities, such as the ante-natal care classes and nutrition support classes for malnourished children, which achieve specific health outcomes.
Dawar meetings use health as a rallying point to forge consensus and enter a process of identifying restraints and opportunities for better health and development. Villages with Dawar see an increase in contributions of community resources which have been used to improve schools, roads, and health units, as well as solve waste management problems.
CHL COMMUNITY PROGRAM
Steps for implementing the Community Health Package
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Component 1. ESTABLISH THE FOUNDATION
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Select village
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Select Community Development Association (CDA)
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Component 2. BUILD CDA CAPACITY
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Establish Village Health Council
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Conduct Village Assessment
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Revitalize Health Board
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Component 3. DEVELOP COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
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Establish Dawar
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Establish AWSO
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Component 4. CONDUCT FAMILY HEALTH INTERVENTIONS
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Conduct Newlywed Initiative
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Implement Ante- and Post- natal Program
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Conduct Child Nutrition Program
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Establish Monitoring and Evaluation System
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Materials and Tools
Back to Egypt
Note about materials: Some of the materials and resources listed on each page are available in their full form, others are represented by image or citation only. For more information and resources, go to www.jhuccp.org
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