The Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services’ (CEOSS) Local Development Unit (LDU), in cooperation with Pure Earth, organized a conference for the launch of phase 2 of the “Protection of Women and Children from Impacts of Lead Poisoning” project.
The project goals include enhancing community awareness, supporting preventative practices, and contributing to the reduction of the toxic impacts of lead, especially among children and pregnant women, in Egypt. This project builds on existing frameworks to protect the communities that are most exposed to environmental pollution risks.
The conference was held with the participation of 70 high-profile experts, consultants, parliamentarians, academics, media professionals, civil society representatives, and representatives of concerned ministries.
Activities and Initiatives Proposed During the Conference:
1. Field Studies:
- Conducting a comprehensive medical survey to identify blood lead levels (BLL) for the target categories, with a focus on the most affected districts.
- Analyzing toxicity sources in the target districts and providing applicable recommendations to treat them, considering local circumstances.
- Collecting data and continuously assessing the status quo, while acknowledging that some information might not be fully accurate, and updating strategies based on results.
- Researching environmental and social impacts in field studies, ensuring the sustainability of proposed solutions
2. Medical Awareness and Education Programs:
- Organizing interactive workshops for workers in professions exposed to lead and their families, focusing on awareness of dangers and prevention methods.
- Developing simplified awareness materials, suitable for local culture, and distributing them among target groups through various channels.
- Launching sustainable awareness campaigns that target a long-term change in attitudes.
- Delivering information on sustainable practices to reduce lead exposure within the awareness programs.
- Implementing non-centralized awareness programs in cooperation with the local communities.
3. Treatment Interventions:
- Collaborating with local medical centers for the provision of effective examination and treatment for individuals with diseases from lead exposure, ensuring access to services in marginalized areas.
- Launching awareness campaigns on nutritive substances that reduce the body’s absorption of lead, with a focus on available local resources.
- Developing sustainable mechanisms for the provision of treatment and follow-up for affected individuals.
- Developing treatment plans with psychological and social support programs for those affected and their families.
4. Improved Local Environment:
- Supporting transformation to lead free alternatives in local industries, while offering incentives for small and medium enterprises.
- Enhancing non-centralized regulations on contamination sources, such as industrial workshops and battery waste sites, through the involvement of local communities.
- Implementing sustainable programs for waste management and the safe disposal of contaminated materials.
- Developing sustainability measures within local communities’ improvement plans.
5. Building Strategic Partnerships:
- Collaborating with governmental entities, such as Ministries of Health and Environment, to activate sustainable policies to alleviate lead toxicity.
- Collaborating with the civil society and private sector to support awareness and treatment efforts, with a focus on local partnerships.
- Building capacity for local communities to ensure projects are scalable and sustainable.
- Developing partnership mechanisms with the private sector to fund sustainability activities.
General Proposed Objectives for Phase 2:
Please note: The objectives outlined below are preliminary and may be revised pending further assessment of logistical and budgetary considerations.
1. Task Force Formation:
- Enhancing institutions’ capacity building regarding lead pollution.
- Developing mechanisms for managing the working group.
- Planning the exchange of experiences for the working group with other countries.
2. Assessing Exposure to Lead at the Community Level:
- Determining sample size within the project, including 3 target groups and a control group (from 3 different communities).
- Developing a report on study funding and sources.
- Developing a report on the socioeconomic conditions of the communities.
3. Community Activities:
- Supporting provisions to expand capacity building for the follow-up of toxicity cases among children.
- Adding a component for blood lead level follow-ups.
- Developing more efficient communication with poison centers.
- Building and increasing the capacity of laboratory technicians to conduct BLL tests.
- Enhancing the efficiency of BLL tests through the provision of examination equipment.
- Supporting the provision of quick cadres inside the communities to carry out BLL tests.
This project was initially funded by Pure Earth’s Strategic Policy Fund. Phase 1 was the preparatory phase, involving stakeholder engagement and community education, for the eventual design and implementation of a blood lead level and source analysis survey in the Greater Cairo area. This project is now under Pure Earth’s Mitigating Lead Exposure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries initiative, funded by the Lead Exposure Action Fund (LEAF).
