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Delivering Dignity: Launching Egypt’s First National Guide to Palliative & End-of-Life Care

In a transformative moment for Egypt’s healthcare landscape, we are proud to announce the release of the country’s first-ever National Guide to Palliative and End-of-Life Care Services. This groundbreaking initiative marks a crucial step in ensuring that individuals with life-limiting illnesses—and the families who care for them—are no longer left to navigate one of life’s most difficult journeys alone.

The guide, launched during a multi-stakeholder workshop in Cairo, brings together a comprehensive overview of Egypt’s palliative care ecosystem. It reflects years of fieldwork, collaboration, and an urgent recognition that the country’s most vulnerable—patients facing terminal illness—require more than just treatment; they deserve empathy, access, and informed care.

At nearly 100 pages, the guide delivers an unprecedented mapping of services available to patients across Egypt. It documents outpatient clinics, inpatient hospital-based palliative units, long-term care homes, hospice-inspired initiatives, and emerging models of community-based and home care. The guide also catalogs practical tools that are often overlooked but vitally important, such as the distribution of pain medication, access to medical alert systems, and 24-hour hotline services.

In addition to mapping services, the guide presents a curated directory of psychosocial support providers, grief counseling organizations, and elderly clubs offering companionship and programs for those approaching the end of life. It provides practical training resources for family members and caregivers -who are often unpaid and unsupported- and includes a growing list of educational opportunities for healthcare professionals.

Crucially, the guide culminates with evidence-based policy recommendations that aim to inform Egypt’s future strategy in palliative and geriatric care. These recommendations were informed by a wide consultation process involving the Ministry of Health, healthcare practitioners, social workers, medical educators, and civil society organizations. The guide’s launch event brought these stakeholders together for the first time in a shared dialogue on coordinated, compassionate care.

The impact of the guide is immediate and far-reaching. For the first time, patients and their families can access a centralized, trusted source of information to help them make critical decisions during periods of extreme vulnerability. For providers, the guide offers a national framework around which to coordinate care and expand referral pathways. For policymakers, it provides a starting point for building a national approach to palliative care that is rights-based, inclusive, and sustainable.

We are proud to offer this guide freely to the Egyptian public starting today. But we also know that releasing the guide is only the beginning. To ensure it reaches those who need it most—including families in rural areas, underserved urban communities, and isolated elderly populations—we are seeking funding support and strategic partners to expand the initiative.

Future steps include translating the guide, gathering the nationals and decision makers in a roundtable to work on a national palliative care policy, and advocating for the guide’s integration into Egypt’s primary healthcare system. These actions will help ensure that the guide becomes a living tool—not just a static document—and that it fulfills its mission of bringing dignity, clarity, and support to all Egyptians facing the end of life.

To download the full guide or support the next phase of this initiative, visit:
https://shamseya.org/blog/launching-workshop-of-egypts-first-national-guide-for-palliative-and-end-of-life-care-services-in-egypt