Poorest families to get free healthcare, education

14,000 families living on less than $3.8 per person per day: Ministry of Social Affairs

The National Poverty Targeting Program (NPTP), a targeted social assistance program, will be brought into effect after it was approved by Cabinet yesterday (July 12).

The program will benefit around 14,000 families who will be receiving direct support from the government. “The families will receive medical and hospitalization services for chronic diseases, free education, free school books, and free electricity,” said Minister of Social Affairs, Wael Abu Faour.

The families were chosen through a data base formulated by the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA). Abu Faour said a total of 33,000 families applied for the program. “The selected families all live below the poverty line agreed by the program, on less than $3.8 per person per day,” he said.

The World Bank’s latest statistics estimated that eight percent of the population live on less than $2.4 per person a per day, and that 28 percent live on less than $4 per person per day.
The NPTP was initiated in 2009. It is funded by the government, the World Bank, Italy, and Canada. The program is being administered by a Central Management Unit that has been set up at the Presidency of Council of Ministers and by a team set up at the MoSA.


Reported by Hanadi Chami