Women’s Health in Ancient Egypt

BY

Dr. Amer El – Ahraf

Immediate Past President, Association of Egyptian American Scholars

And

Professor and Vice President Emeritus California State Dominguez Hills

aelahraf@csudh.edu

elahraf@chapman.edu 

AND

Dr. Shokry Elkantiry

Assistant Professor of Egyptology,

Aswan Faculty of Arts,    

South Valley University

shokryhussin105@hotmail.com

Egyptian women had a relatively free life style specially when compared to their contemporaries in other lands. The Ancient Egyptian woman wasn't exactly feminist, but she was quite "liberated" even by today's standards. She could hold down a job, or be a mother if she so chooses. She could live by herself or with her family. She could buy and sell items and property to her heart's content. She could follow the latest fashions, learn to read and write. She loved and laughed and ate and drank. She partied and got sick. She helped her husband. She ran her household. She could have power and position if she was in the right class.  She lived a similar life to that of her mother and grandmother in accordance with, maat. She was an ancient Egyptian woman with hopes and dreams of her own. That is not too much different of so called  " liberated: women of today's world. She also had a good health care system.

     Women’s health was closely looked after by the ancient Egyptians. Physicians specialized in obstetrics and gynecology were available in ancient Egypt alongside health care providers such midwives.  Egyptians, at the time, liked to have large families partly because a numerous progeny reflected credit on the parents especially the father.

Fertility in women was diagnosed by placing garlic in the vagina for one night. If by the next day the woman can taste garlic in her mouth or smell it , she is considered fertile. This is based upon the connection between the genital parts and interior of the body. Such connection would be impaired in a case of obstructed fallopian tubes. In modern medicine, phenolphthalein injected in the uterus would appear in urine based on similar principle. This is also known to gynecologists as Speck’s test. Of particular interest is that physicians of ancient Egypt understood that infertility/sterility could occur in both male and female partners. They also recognized the role of the nature of the male's ejaculate in the potential success of pregnancy. These are examples of the advances in the practice of medicine in Ancient Egypt in general and the progress made relative to the concepts of issues pertaining to women's health in particular .

A vision for improving the quality and value of Egyptian higher education:

An Academic and Professional Reflections on Veterinary Medical curricula.

By:

Dr. Amer El-Ahraf, Dr. Mostafa Abo Gabal , Dr.Badr Oweiss, and Dr. Ismael Reda

California State University, Iowa State University and Cairo University

Veterinary Medicine has been an important field of scientific and public interest since the early stages of Ancient Egyptian civilization. In Modern Egypt, attention has been given to veterinary medical curricula where a rapid succession of new faculties of Veterinary Medicine has taken place following the establishment of the first one at Cairo University. This is stimulated, in part, by population growth and the corresponding demand for protein of animal origin as well as by the desire to protect animal and human health.. The increased number of graduating veterinarians is providing the human recourses necessary to support the increased number of private dairy and beef farms as well as those developed by major governmental organizations. Today, the armed forces and the interior ministry, which also uses an increased number of dogs for security related purposes, are second only to the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation as employers of veterinarians. Other employment opportunities have blossomed due to the increase in poultry farms, aquatic farms, veterinary pharmaceutical facilities and diagnostic laboratories among others.  

There are reasons to follow these quantitative changes in the number of academic institutions and number of graduates in two ways.  First, is to identify geographical areas such as the Sinai where new universities must be established as means of academic service, stimulants of economic development and attractive magnets to achieve re-distribution of the population away from the overcrowded conditions in the Nile Valley.

It is important to concentrates on the qualitative nature of curriculum development and delivery including the use of appropriate technology as well expansion of academic offerings in the important areas of increasing significance. Increased emphasis must be placed on the role of veterinary medicine in the areas of environmental health, occupational health, public health, Industrial pollution , wild life, and the integral linkage between epizoology and epidemiology in investigating and controlling future pandemics most of  them,  such as SARS and avian flu,   are of animal origin.

 The issue of continuing education and training in these and emerging areas of animal and human health must be  examined in view of their value of increasing competency levels of practitioners, laboratory diagnosis specialists and scientists who will be able to provide enhanced quality services for Egypt  and the rest of the Arab Word. In turn, these new directions will require expansion of the establishment of new academic institutions with more updated curricula, modern delivery modes including increased use of technology as well as new approaches to selection of incoming students.

The lessons learned from the case study of veterinary medicine can be instructive as lessons learned in the academic development in this field can be transformed to the general area of higher education in Egypt where parallel conclusions are derived in attempt to enhance its quality and value as an academic, an economic and a strategic asset for the country as a whole.