الفهرس 
Background of the healthcare system in Egypt and its reform trialsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Introduction: The Government of Egypt is committed to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and its progress in this vein has been spurred recently through the approval of the Social Health Insurance (SHI) law. Health providers are important stakeholders in the implementation of the SHI system. Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the level of awareness and attitude of physicians and managers in Primary Health Care Centers (PHCCs) in Cairo governorate about the new system and the factors affecting it, and to determine the challenges that may face the new system from the perspective of the participants. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the awareness level and attitude of 100 physicians and managers from PHCCs in Cairo governorate in 2019. PHCCs subjected to this study were selected randomly from the official list of the PHCCs in Cairo governorate from the MoH, and the required sample of physicians was randomly selected inside each center. A pilot tested semi-structured Arabic interview questionnaire was used, with a reliability coefficient of 0.70.
Results: The study revealed that the respondents’ awareness level of the new SHI system was mostly average (78% between Q1-Q3 of the total awareness score). Fifty percent (50%) of the participants had positive attitude (> median score) towards the current strategy of the new SHI system, while 48% of the participants had positive attitude towards different challenges facing the implementation of that system (against their presence). Most of the participants (88%) had no history of attending training courses involving SHI system. Managers and older participants showed significantly higher means of awareness, and attitude scores towards the strategy of the new system, than the competitors’ groups. There was a moderate significant positive correlation (31%) between the total awareness score and total attitude score towards the new system strategy, while there was no significant correlation between the awareness score and attitude towards the challenges facing the implementation of the new system score.
Conclusion: The study concluded that the level of awareness about the SHI among the studied sample of the PHCCs’ physicians at Cairo governorate was averaged. It was of the physicians’ opinion that the successful implementation of the SHI system will improve the healthcare system elements, but there are many challenges in this regard.
Recommendation: Efforts should be enhanced for reaching out to the physicians in PHCCs, including those working in governorates where implementation of SHI system hasn’t commenced yet, especially to emphasize their understanding of the objectives and elements of the new system