UNFPA and the National Council for Women (NCW) inaugurated on May 11 a Safe Women Clinic at the Suez Canal University Hospital in the presence of Frederika Meijer, UNFPA Representative in Egypt, Dr. Nasser Mandour, President of the Suez Canal University and representatives from NCW and other entities.

The clinic is one of nine Safe Women Clinics around the country, offering comprehensive services for women subjected to violence, including medical services, as well as multi-sectoral referral to legal and social services in coordination with NCW.

The Suez Canal clinic is funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy and KOICA Egypt.

Meijer highlighted the importance of the partnership with NCW and university hospitals in eliminating and responding to violence against women and girls. She added that Safe Women Clinics are set to operate in all of Egypt’s governorates.

On his part, Dr. Mandour said the clinic’s inauguration comes within the university’s efforts to improve health services and respond to the needs of women subjected to violence, adding that the university staff stand ready to support service providers at the clinic.

Dr. Amal Abdel Moneim, Director of the Complaints Office at NCW, underlined the importance of the health sector in combatting violence against women, since health service providers are an entry point for women subjected to violence to receive support and services.

NCW has signed protocols with universities across Egypt to establish Safe Women Clinics at the university hospitals.

The Suez Canal clinic brings the total of Safe Women’s Clinics at university hospitals to nine nationally, with clinics operating at Qasr al-Ainy, Mansoura, Ain Shams, Assiut, Benha, Beni Suef, Minya and 6th of October university hospitals.

NCW and UNFPA have also inaugurated the first Safe Women’s Clinic at the Primary Health Care level in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Population and the General Secretariat of Mental Health in April at the Ahalina Medical Center in Cairo, with more in the pipeline, planned throughout this year.