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.
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 government 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.
“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 ten years is nothing short of astounding,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General.
