Monday 06/Oct/2025 – 03:21 PM
Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, said that health economics is an essential pillar to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of health systems, stressing that the Ministry of Health pays great attention to applying the principles of this science in all policies and programs, to ensure the optimal use of resources and achieve the best health and economic return for society.
This came in the minister’s speech during his participation today, Monday, with the activities of the fourth annual conference of the Egyptian Society for Health Economics, which brings together a group of experts and specialists in the fields of health economics, health care, and decision makers.
Abdel Ghaffar: 100 million health initiatives have turned into national investments that achieve a sustainable economic return
Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar explained that health spending is not just a cost, but a strategic investment, as every pound is spent on prevention, early detection and organized treatment with concrete returns that include reducing the burden of diseases, reducing the costs of long -term treatment, and building a more healthy and productive society.
The minister touched on the initiative of 100 million health launched by the Egyptian state in 2018 as a start to a comprehensive approach in promoting public health, adding that the ministry expanded this approach, bringing the number of national health initiatives to about 15 initiatives, all of which turned into promising national investments that achieve a real return on health investment.
Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar pointed to the most prominent economic achievements of these initiatives, noting that the initiative of early detection of the C virus recorded an economic return of 359%, while the initiative to support women’s health achieved a return of 57%, the initiative of early detection, the treatment of weakness and hearing loss in newborns, returning by 245%, stressing that these figures reflect the success of the state in converting health investment into a sustainable economic value.
The minister added that investing in early detection and prevention contributed directly to reducing future treatment costs, and facing economic and social burdens resulting from chronic diseases, and investing in health is one of the smartest investments with a high return, whether economically or developmental.
Abdel Ghaffar stressed that the ministry is fully aware of the size of the challenges facing the health sector, and is constantly seeking to preserve its efficiency and sustainability by making strategic decisions that ensure optimal use of resources and reduce waste, in light of a global environment characterized by accelerating changes and increasing challenges.
He concluded his speech by certainly that investing in human capital is the basic pillar of human development, stressing that the Egyptian state puts the health of the citizen at the forefront of its priorities as a basis for building a strong and productive society, and also expressed his appreciation to the Egyptian Society for Health Economics to organize this important scientific conference, which allows the exchange of experiences and knowledge, stressing his confidence that the discussions and recommendations issued by it will contribute to developing the field of health technological evaluation.
For his part, Dr. Adel Adawi, the former Minister of Health, stressed that health economics is an essential pillar to enhance the efficiency of health systems and ensure their sustainability, and to expand access to medical services, and added: The benefit from the available resources must be maximized to achieve the best health and economic results.
