Egypt's population policies and family planning program: a critical examination

Abstract

Egypt's national family planning program, in existence since 1965, has been fairly successful in increasing the use of family planning methods and lowering the population growth rate in Egypt. However, the fact that as few as 10 percent of women in rural Egypt are using a birth control method calls into question the "success" of Egypt's population program as a national endeavor and reveals a distinct disparity between contraceptive prevalence in rural areas as opposed to urban areas. This thesis will characterize and evaluate Egypt's national family planning program on the basis of demographic, ethnographic, and interview data in order to: discern the historical development of Egypt's population policy and its implementation, determine why the program has not reached its goals in rural Egypt, and discuss the sustainability and policy implications of the program. Contrary to other evaluations of family planning in Egypt, this examination will use a holistic, systemic method of evaluation which will consider a wide number of sociocultural, environmental, economic, political, and health related factors that influence population growth in Egypt. By conducting the evaluation in this manner, I will reveal that although the Egyptian government may have a well-intentioned population policy, it has been poorly implemented and improperly evaluated. It has emphasized population control and the sale of contraceptives while ignoring cultural beliefs and practices, the importance of the family and community in Egypt, social and political conflicts, environmental problems, and the socioeconomic and health care needs of Egyptians.