A report issued by Ministry of Health and Population revealed that the recently held World Economic Forum confirmed that Egypt presented a successful model through its presidential initiative to eliminate Hepatitis C and early detection of non-communicable diseases.

The report pointed out that a community survey of a number of diseases is not impossible, which made Egypt is on its way to obtaining global certification from the World Health Organization for declaring it a virus-C-free country.

According to the Ministry of Health, the reports of the World Economic Forum confirmed that Egypt presented an unprecedented campaign that contributed to examining more than 90 million citizens and successfully treated nearly 4 million people infected with the virus, a campaign that gave hope to the whole world in eliminating this disease.

The report indicated that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s initiative to eliminate Hepatitis C was launched in October 2018 through a national campaign for early detection of hepatitis C infection and non-communicable diseases (diabetes, hypertension and obesity), and the campaign succeeded in examining 90 million Egyptian citizens. To detect hepatitis C, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, and provide follow-up, evaluation and treatment services through treatment centers in various governorates.

The total cost of the initiative to eliminate Hepatitis C and early detection of non-communicable diseases was about 4 billion pounds, including 2.5 billion pounds for the survey and 1.5 billion pounds for treatment.

The Hepatitis C initiative contributed to exempting the state from bearing the cost of treating Hepatitis C and its complications, which annually amount to 64 billion pounds through early detection and treatment of the disease.

The Egyptian Ministry of Health relied on the existing database and about 5,000 health units across the country, with the aim of knowing those who have antibodies to hepatitis C are at risk of contracting the disease.

The World Economic Forum reports that hepatitis C affects more than 300 million people worldwide, and despite the scale of the problem, it is one of the few major endemic diseases that can be eliminated by 2030 and the World Health Organization estimates that we can avoid 4.5 million deaths within the next 9 years if countries expand campaigns to eliminate hepatitis C.

Source: State Information Service Egypt