President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced on Saturday that his government aims to reduce the rate of Hepatitis C virus in Egypt by 2019/2020 from the highest in the world to the lowest amongst the global rates of infection. Health Minister Hala Zayed said that more than 17.5 million Egyptians have been screened so far in the first stage and part of the second phase of the initiative to eliminate the Hepatitis C virus in Egypt and noncommunicable diseases. The screening campaign for Hepatitis C began earlier this year, targeting people aged 19 to 59 for scanning through PCR tests. The “Tahya Masr” (Long Live Egypt) Fund announced in an August statement that the Hepatitis C virus in Egypt will be completely eradicated by 2020, through one of the largest medical examinations in human history. Egypt has the highest rate of Hepatitis C in the world, first surfacing in the 1950s due to unsterilized injections.

Source: Egypt Independent December 15, 2018 14:26 UTC