AUC Professor Mohamed Salama Discusses the Launch of AL-SEHA, a New Population Aging Study in Egypt
The American University in Cairo (AUC) held yesterday its first “Faculty at the Forefront” series featuring Mohamed Salama, professor at AUC’s Institute of Global Health and Health and Human Ecology, who discussed healthy aging in Egypt. Salama, in collaboration with the Director of AUC’s Social Research Center Hoda Rashad and her team, is leading the Longitudinal Study of Egyptian Healthy Aging (AL-SEHA), the first nationally representative panel study on aging in Egypt. The study, which aims to fill knowledge gaps in this field in Egypt that are necessary to set health, social and economic policy priorities, will be launched in 2024. AL-SEHA also aims to help prioritize resources and formulate effective strategies for healthcare and social systems in Egypt, in addition to improving the lives of older adults and providing them with better care.
“There has been a growing global interest in healthy aging studies because these reveal the challenges and opportunities that will face the world in the future, especially in low- and middle-income countries that suffer from a scarcity of data on healthy aging,” said Salama at the event.
He pointed out that this study is the first in the Arab region and the Middle East and aims to include about 20,000 participants, over 50 from all of Egypt’s governorates. The study spans at least ten years to follow up on the changes in the participants’ lives every two years through culturally compatible questionnaires. Salama emphasized that there are many relevant important international studies on healthy aging, but he believes AL-SEHA’s unique design allows it to draw information that reflects the true nature of the population and the social, economic, and environmental influences specific to Egypt.
Salama pointed out that Egypt is a particularly interesting example, as it is the most populous Arab or Middle Eastern country, as well as the third most populous country in Africa, “although the Egyptian population is still young and expecting to grow further, the number of older people is increasing as well as fast, so Egypt is in an ideal position to prepare for a healthy aging of the population if based on evidence that combines medical, economic and social information to effectively address the multifaceted challenges faced by an aging society.”
The study will also shed the light on the impact of societal changes and complexities on the health of older adults in Egypt. “These changes include, for example, the continuing trend towards urbanization, with more older people moving to the cities and the rapid transformation of society from an agricultural to an industrial society, which in turns affects the way older people live and creates new challenges related to access to health care services and social isolation.” The study will also include a module to assess the impact of climate change on the health of older citizens, a topic that has not yet been extensively explored in Egypt and the region. Recent reports have indicated high mortality rates during heat waves and an increasing incidence of strokes. These examples demonstrate the direct effect of climate change on the health of the older adults in Egypt.
AL-SEHA is conducted in collaboration with government agencies, civil society, and not-for-profit organizations in Egypt, in addition to the SHARE project, which conducts research studies to examine the effects of health, social, economic, and environmental policies on the lives of European citizens and beyond.
Salama explained that the AL-SEHA study aligns with the ongoing reforms in Egypt’s health insurance, social solidarity, social care and retirement systems. “The findings from AL-SEHA can play a crucial role in making informed decisions and future planning to improve health care access for older adults in Egypt. This valuable information can also help reduce access inequities and age-based discrimination while facilitating the evaluation of health policies and analytical studies.”
For more information about AL-SEHA study, please check Aging in an Arab Country: knowledge gaps in Egypt, published in Nature Aging.
About Salama
Mohamed Salama obtained his medical degree in 1999 from Mansoura University, Egypt, where he began his clinical training. He started his post as a clinical toxicologist at Mansoura University Poison Control Center. He received his MSc in Toxicology in 2006 and, through a DAAD scholarship, his PhD degree in Neurotoxicology in 2011 through collaboration with Philipps University in Marburg, Germany. Upon returning to Egypt, he realized that there was a large gap between basic neuroscience research and clinical application. He established the first Translational Neuroscience Unit in Egypt. Salama's collaborative research led to the establishment of the Egyptian Network for Neurodegenerative Disorders (ENND). Salama was selected as a SOT Global Senior Scholar in 2013 and a translational/bridging awardee in 2016. He was awarded by Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Foundation (PMDF) for his continuing research in the field of neurodegeneration. Currently, he is an Atlantic senior fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute.