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Two is enough: A fix for Egypt’s overpopulation

Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity, in coordination with the Ministry of Health, announced the launch of a population control program targeting 1.3 million Egyptian women.

An Egyptian Muslim woman takes a picture of children at the end of prayers on the first day of Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan on June 25, 2017, in Cairo.  / AFP PHOTO / SAMER ABDULLAH        (Photo credit should read SAMER ABDULLAH/AFP/Getty Images)
An Egyptian woman takes a picture of children at the end of prayers on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt, June 25, 2017. — SAMER ABDULLAH/AFP/Getty Images

CAIRO — Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali announced in her speech at Egypt’s Fourth National Youth Conference on July 25 the launch of a program to curb population growth in Egypt called “Itnein Kifaya” (“Two is Enough”).

At the conference, Wali said the program targets 1.3 million mothers who are younger than 35 years old and have one or two children. These women are the beneficiaries of the ministry’s income support program Takaful and Karama.

In coordination with the Ministry of Health and Population, the Itnein Kifaya program aims to raise Egyptian women’s awareness on the need to curb population growth through workshops, conferences and door-to-door activities. The program also includes the distribution of birth control methods to the targeted 1.3 million mothers to encourage them to have only two children.

The Ministry of Social Solidarity posted a video on the program July 21 on the ministry's official YouTube channel, explaining that implementation would take two years at a cost of 105.3 million Egyptian pounds (around $5.9 million), financed by the Ministry of Social Solidarity fund to support nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations Population Fund.

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