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CHL’s Mabrouk Initiative scales up in partnership with the
Maazoun Association
Marriage Registrars throughout the country to distribute
health education materials and messages to Egypt’s 575,000
newlywed couples yearly, getting family life and the future off
to a healthy start.
With close to 575,000 marriages taking place in Egypt every
year, the Maazoun (Islamic Marriage Registrar) plays an
important role in the lives of over a million young people
annually. Over 30 representatives of the Maazoun Association
gathered in Cairo on November 12, 2006 to prepare to enhance
this role through their participation in a nationwide health
initiative aimed at newlyweds, called the “Mabrouk”
(Congratulations) Initiative. The Maazoun Association has 10,000
members throughout Egypt.
The Communication for Healthy Living (CHL) project’s “Mabrouk”
Initiative recognizes marriage as a strategic entry point for
family health messages, because it is at this stage that married
couples make many health and behavior decisions that will have
life-long effects on family health. These include decisions
about having children, husband-wife communication on health, how
to safely manage pregnancy and delivery, proper post-partum,
neonatal and infant care, and the successful initiation of
family planning and practice of 3-5 year birth-spacing.
Members of the Maazoun Association will deliver the initiative’s
key health education material, the Mabrouk booklet, and promote
health messages to newlywed couples as they apply to register
their marriages, The Mabrouk Booklet is designed to serve as a
comprehensive reference guide for new couples to provide them
with health information connected to the various life events
likely to happen within the first few years of marriage, with
specific focus on communication, the home environment,
reproductive health, family planning, pregnancy, postpartum and
neonatal care. It is packaged in an elegant, re-usable frame,
with the intention of keeping the booklet readily accessible as
a reference, along with family photos on display in the home.
The overall theme of the messaging encourages newlywed couples
to take an active role in protecting their health and that of
their future family. The maazouns also expressed their interest
in supporting communication efforts on other public health
issues, such as Avian Influenza.
Over a million Mabrouk booklets have been distributed to
newlywed couples throughout Egypt to date, not only by maazouns
but also by health outreach workers from the MOHP, SIS, and
NGOs, priests, and via popular magazines as inserts. Young
couples are grateful for the information in the Mabrouk booklet,
and use it as a tool to manage the health events associated with
starting their families. As one new wife put it, “Using it?
We're living by it!” The Mabrouk booklet continues to be in high
demand around the country, and increased distribution via
maazouns will make it an even more valuable tool to attract
sponsors interested in reaching the same target audience.
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