Cairo, 1 June 2016-  Today is the launch of” the Egypt Economic Cost of Gender Based Violence Survey 2015” under the auspices of the President of Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics CAPMAS Major Abo Bakr El Gendy and the Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Waly, and it will be honorably attended by Dr. Magdy Khaled; Assistant Representative of UNFPA Egypt, Dr. Luay Shabaneh; Regional Director of UNFPA Arab States Regional Office and Dr, Maya Morsy; President of the National Council for Women.

Today Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in cooperation with United Nations Fund Population (UNFPA) and National Council for Women (NCW) launching the first national survey measuring prevalence of the different types and forms of gender based violence inflicted on women and girls in the age group 18-64 years and its impact on women’s health, reproductive health and general wellbeing; and finally it measures the associated economic costs on their families, society and state as a whole.  The survey is expected to guide policy-makers and planners to formulate evidence-based strategies and action plans to combat gender based violence inflicted on women and girls in Egypt.

The phenomenon of gender based violence is a global problem which take many forms, and it has negative consequences not only on women but also on their families and communities at large, and due to the aggravation of this phenomenon in Egypt in the recent time, which represents a departure from the customs and traditions of the Egyptian people, gender based violence has been an issue of interest for the Egyptian State because its constitution guarantees rights for Egyptian women including the right to life free of violence, and the State's obligation to protect them from all forms of violence. But on the other hand, the existing research suffers from a gap when addressing the gender based violence perpetrated against women and girls in Egypt, where there is no sufficient studies and research that monitor the prevalence rate and the resulting effects affecting society and the Egyptian economy. In this context, Sensed both the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics , and the National Council for Women, motivated by a common interest in this matter , the urgent need to provide adequate statistics for policy- makers in order to combat the growing phenomenon of gender based violence in Egypt against women and girls . And according to the UNFPA mandate, and the belief of the importance of eradicating this phenomenon, UNFPA exerted all its efforts to combat the phenomenon in all its programs. In that sense, UNFPA took the lead as a main partner in supporting this study at all stages.