Cairo: Egypt's Minister of Health, Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar, praised today the long-standing strategic ties between Egypt and Trkiye, citing co-operation in the health sector for achieving sustainable regional health security. Minister Abdel-Ghaffar emphasized the need for real integration in pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing to serve more than 200 million people in the region. His remarks were made during the opening of the 11th World Medical Congress, held in Ankara from November 24-26.

According to State Information Service Egypt, Abdel-Ghaffar highlighted Egypt's major achievements in combating infectious diseases, such as the complete elimination of Hepatitis C after screening 63 million people, which reduced infection rates from over 14 percent to just 0.38 percent. This milestone earned Egypt the World Health Organisation's gold certificate as the first country to fully eliminate the disease. He also noted Egypt's effective control of Hepatitis B, the anticipated elimination of trachoma by 2025, and its declaration as malaria-free, following a century of efforts bolstered by advanced digital surveillance systems.

Further, the minister mentioned that these advances are backed by 15 presidential public health initiatives, the National Egyptian Genome Project, and Egypt's leadership in securing the first international resolution on rare diseases. The ongoing rollout of a comprehensive health insurance system aims to cover the entire population by 2030, creating a unified market of 110 million people.

Abdel-Ghaffar called for stronger Egyptian-Turkish co-operation in pharmaceutical manufacturing, biotechnology, and scientific research, expressing Egypt's readiness to support joint projects through the 'golden license' and special incentives. He stressed that such a partnership could serve as a model for regional health security and sustainable development.