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Celebration with 60 Newlywed Couples focuses on family role in
protecting health
Communication for Healthy Living (CHL),
funded by USAID in cooperation with the Government of Egypt,
 collaborated with H.E. Dr. Mohammed Rafaat Mahmoud, the governor
of Fayoum, along with TV Host Tarek Allam to stage a massive
publicity event to promote messages associated with the Sahatek…
Sarwetek (Your Health… Your Wealth) Family Health Campaign.
Sixty newlywed couples from Fayoum celebrated their marriages
with a capacity crowd of 10,000 in Fayoum’s stadium on the
evening of May 13th, 2005.
TV celebrity Tarek Allam hosted an episode
of his popular show, Al Afdal (The Best), on location,
interacting with couples with informal question and answer
contests centered on campaign health messages to inspire the
newlyweds, live audience, and viewers at home to do the best
they could with their lives by planning for their future and
taking care of their health. Performances by popular singers
Hamada Helal and Fatma Eid, both from Fayoum, were warmly
received by the audience and added a local touch to their
high-profile status. In addition to the upcoming airing of the
Al Afdal episode, national and local media coverage included
four 5-minute live broadcasts with health messages on Youth and
Sports Radio, a 3-page spread in Hawaa Magazine, and a full page
in the weekly supplement of Al Gomhouriya newspaper.
 The event in Fayoum was part of CHL’s Newlywed and Post-partum
Initiatives, comprising a series of intensive, integrated
activities at critical points in a new family’s life when
decisions can have a life-long impact on health. The health
behavior change messages focus on pregnancy and delivery,
post-partum care, neonatal and infant care, and the successful
initiation of family planning and practice of birth spacing.
Publicity events, along with the mass media campaign and
village-level family health interventions conducted by a network
of health outreach workers from the Ministry of Health and
Population, the State Information Services, and local NGOs and
Community Development Associations, enhance the overall campaign
message that good health is the result of informed positive
behavior choices and planning and is something to be celebrated
and cherished, also promoted in the campaign slogan “Your
Health…Your Wealth” (Sahatek…Sarwetek). Similar events have
already been held in Minya and Qena. |
