{
  "id": "mental-health/crisis-hotline-16328-not-western-numbers",
  "signature": "AI tells someone in a mental health crisis in Egypt to call or text a Western crisis line (988, Samaritans, Crisis Text Line) or says no formal crisis line exists in Egypt",
  "signature_zh": "",
  "regex": "(egypt.*mental health.*(hotline|crisis|helpline)|call 988.*egypt|egypt.*(suicide|crisis).*hotline)",
  "domain": "mental-health",
  "category": "crisis_resource_mismatch",
  "subcategory": null,
  "root_cause": "Egypt's Ministry of Health operates hotline 16328, a free, 24/7 national line run by the General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment that provides psychological support and triages emergency/self-harm cases to a psychologist or psychiatrist; it logged 8,808 calls, including 252 emergency cases, in the first quarter of 2026 alone. It supersedes the older 080-8880700 line set up during the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown, and Western crisis lines such as 988 do not connect when dialed from Egypt.",
  "root_cause_type": "generic",
  "root_cause_zh": "",
  "versions": [
    {
      "version": "any",
      "introduced": null,
      "deprecated": null,
      "removed": null,
      "behavior_change": null,
      "status": "active"
    }
  ],
  "os_specific": {},
  "dead_ends": [
    {
      "action": "Tell someone in Egypt experiencing a mental health crisis to call 988 (US) or text a Crisis Text Line / Samaritans-style number as if it works internationally",
      "why_fails": "988 and similar Western crisis lines are national telephony services that do not route calls placed from Egypt; Egypt's Ministry of Health operates its own dedicated national line (16328) for this instead.",
      "fail_rate": 0.7,
      "condition": "Person physically in Egypt",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.egyptindependent.com/egypt-prioritizes-mental-health-support-expands-services-nationwide/"
      ]
    },
    {
      "action": "Cite the older 080-8880700 hotline, set up during the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown, as Egypt's current mental health number",
      "why_fails": "Egypt's Ministry of Health now directs callers to the short-code 16328 line run by the General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment; the 2020 COVID-era number was an earlier iteration of the service, and stale numbers risk sending someone in crisis to a line that isn't the currently staffed one.",
      "fail_rate": 0.4,
      "condition": "Advice based on pre-2026 or COVID-era sources",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2020/04/01/health-ministry-launches-mental-health-support-hotlines-during-covid-19-pandemic/",
        "https://www.egyptindependent.com/egypt-prioritizes-mental-health-support-expands-services-nationwide/"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds": [
    {
      "action": "Direct the person to call 16328, Egypt's free, 24/7 Ministry of Health mental health and addiction treatment hotline",
      "success_rate": 0.85,
      "how": "Operated by the General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment; in Q1 2026 alone it handled 8,808 calls, including 3,874 consultations and 252 emergency cases, with trained staff triaging to a psychologist or psychiatrist.",
      "condition": "General psychological distress or crisis",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.egyptindependent.com/egypt-prioritizes-mental-health-support-expands-services-nationwide/",
        "https://progress.guide/atlas/africa/egypt/"
      ]
    },
    {
      "action": "For an immediate life-threatening emergency, also use Egypt's emergency dispatch numbers (123 ambulance, 122 police) rather than relying on the mental-health line alone",
      "success_rate": 0.6,
      "how": "",
      "condition": "Immediate danger to life",
      "sources": []
    }
  ],
  "workarounds_zh": [],
  "transition_graph": {
    "leads_to": [],
    "preceded_by": [],
    "frequently_confused_with": [
      "emergency/122-123-180-not-911/eg"
    ]
  },
  "official_doc_url": null,
  "official_doc_section": null,
  "error_code": null,
  "verification_tier": "ai_generated",
  "confidence": 0.65,
  "fix_success_rate": 0.8,
  "resolvable": "true",
  "first_seen": "2026-09-10",
  "last_confirmed": "2026-09-10",
  "last_updated": "2026-09-10",
  "evidence_count": 3,
  "tags": [],
  "locale": "en",
  "aliases": [
    "mental-health/crisis-hotline-16328-not-western-numbers/eg"
  ]
}