Egypt becomes 1st country to attain WHO approval on the way to hepatitis C end

The World Health Organisation (WHO) congratulates Egypt for becoming the first country to achieve gold tier status on the path to elimination of hepatitis C as per WHO criteria, according to its statement on Monday.

“Egypt’s journey from having one of the world’s highest rates of hepatitis C infection to being on the path to elimination in less than 10 years is nothing short of astounding,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General.

The North African country has fulfilled the programmatic requirements that facilitate the reduction of new hepatitis C infections and deaths to levels that position the country to end the hepatitis C epidemic, the statement added.

The country has effectively moved from having one of the most elevated rates of hepatitis C in the world to one of the lowest by reducing the prevalence of hepatitis C from 10 percent to 0.38 percent.