YHP Egypt

Location

Four urban communities spread across 4 of the 27 urban districts in Egypt’s Greater Cairo region: Al-Marj, Ezbet Khair Allah, Al Basatin and Al as-Mraat.

Timing

2021 - March 2026

The local context

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for approximately 86% of all deaths in Egypt.1 Many of the behaviours that increase the risk of developing NCDs later in life, including tobacco use, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity, are established during adolescence. Young people can also face barriers to accessing trusted health information, supportive environments and youth-friendly health services. 2 3

 

Our objectives

To support young people aged 10–24 to improve their health and wellbeing and adopt behaviours that can help prevent non-communicable diseases later in life.

Our focus

The Programme focused on creating supportive environments that enable young people to make healthier choices and reduce their future risk of non-communicable diseases. This included:

  • Increasing awareness of the main behavioural risk factors for NCDs, including tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and poor mental wellbeing.
  • Building young people's confidence, leadership and advocacy skills so they could act as health champions in their communities.
  • Strengthening support from parents, caregivers, teachers and community leaders.
  • Improving the responsiveness of health services to young people's needs.
  • Elevating youth voices in discussions on adolescent health and NCD prevention.

Our programme

The Young Health Programme in Egypt was implemented by Plan International Egypt in partnership with El Shorafa for Developing Rural Community and El Noor Association for Social Aid across four communities in Cairo: Al-Marj, Ezbet Khair Allah, Al Basatin and Al-Asmarat.

The Programme worked with young people, parents and caregivers, teachers, healthcare professionals and community leaders to increase awareness of NCD risk factors, strengthen life skills and leadership, create supportive environments and improve access to youth-friendly health services.

Young people were trained as Peer Educators and delivered health awareness activities in schools and communities on topics including healthy nutrition, physical activity, mental wellbeing, tobacco prevention, air pollution and wider NCD prevention. The Programme also supported youth-led advocacy, enabling young people to contribute to policy discussions on public health issues affecting their communities.

Our achievements

The Programme concluded in March 2026 after six years of implementation, leaving a legacy of youth leadership, community engagement and advocacy for NCD prevention across Cairo communities.

Reach and engagement

  • Trained 77 Peer Educators, exceeding the original target of 40.
  • Reached 91,018 young people directly through peer education and health awareness activities.
  • Engaged 4,816 parents and caregivers through awareness and capacity-building sessions.
  • Trained 513 teachers and school staff to support healthy behaviours and peer education activities.
  • Engaged 223 healthcare professionals to strengthen youth-friendly health services.
  • Reached 150 community leaders and stakeholders through awareness-raising and advocacy activities.
  • Reached more than 1.07 million people indirectly through community campaigns, events and wider outreach activities.
  • Worked with 52 schools and helped strengthen 21 health facilities.

Building knowledge and healthy behaviours

The Programme's endline evaluation demonstrated significant improvements in young people's knowledge, attitudes and behaviours:

  • Awareness of tobacco-related harms increased from 29% to 71%.
  • Healthy diet behaviours increased from 13% to 63%.
  • Emotional wellbeing behaviours increased from 48% to 78%.
  • Sexual and reproductive health knowledge increased from 65% to 92%.
  • Knowledge of how to access healthcare services increased from 51% to 78%.
  • Healthcare utilisation increased from 36% to 62%.
  • Satisfaction with healthcare services increased from 22% to 44%.

Strengthening supportive environments

The Programme built support for healthy lifestyles among families, schools and communities by engaging parents, caregivers, teachers and community leaders in awareness-raising and capacity-building activities. The endline evaluation found that most young people reported feeling supported by their families (67%), communities (58%) and schools (58%).

Youth leadership and advocacy

Young people played an active role in shaping health discussions and influencing decision-makers. Peer Educators received advanced leadership and advocacy training and developed a youth-led policy paper on tobacco and e-cigarette use.

The Programme convened a national tobacco and vaping policy roundtable bringing together parliamentarians, government representatives, public health experts, civil society organisations and youth advocates. Young people presented evidence-based recommendations to strengthen tobacco control measures and reduce tobacco and e-cigarette use among adolescents.

YHP Egypt also supported young people's participation in national advocacy platforms, including the National Adolescent Forum, helping amplify youth voices in discussions on adolescent health and wellbeing.

 

Our partners

Plan International Egypt has over 30 years’ experience of working with young people in Cairo and was responsible for the overall implementation of the programme.

 

El Shorafa for Developing Rural Community is a community-based organisation working with young people and local communities in the Greater Cairo area since 1985.

El Noor Association for Social Aid is a community-based organisation which has been implementing projects targeting girls and boys in Ezbet Khair Allah area in Giza since 2004.

References:

1. World Health Organization. Noncommunicable Diseases Country Profiles: Egypt. Available at: https://www.who.int

2. World Health Organization. Global Accelerated Action for the Health of Adolescents (AA-HA!). Available at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241512343

3. UNICEF Egypt. Adolescent Development and Participation. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/egypt