Egypt’s Health Ministry has dispatched a medical delegation to Chad under presidency of Dr Wael Abdel-Razek, Deputy Executive Director of the National Committee for the Control of Hepatic Viruses; and Dr Muhammad al-Boraei, Executive-Manager of the initiative to treat one million Africans for various diseases, especially Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), which was launched by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in October 2019.
According to Khaled Megahed, spokesman of the Health Ministry, the delegation began its visit by inspecting the 20 spots the Egyptian delegation assigned in Chad’s capital N’Djamena, where Chadians are scanned for HCV.
The delegation also visited the assessment centre and hospital in N’Djamena. Another centre has been equipped in the city of Moundou, the second largest city in Chad, to conduct PCR tests to detect HCV and receive treatment as a first step to start scanning and treatment outside N’Djamena.
Dr Megahed added that following the delegation arrived, a meeting was held among Chad’s Health Minister, Dr Abdullah Saber; Egypt’s Ambassador to Chad, Muhammad Orabi; Dr Abdel-Razek and Dr Boraei; as well as other health officials in Chad. In the meeting, the outline of the initiative was drawn for the upcoming period in cities other than N’Djamena. It was agreed to form a national committee to combat hepatic viruses in Chad, in cooperation with experts from both Egypt and Chad.
Since it was launched last October 2019 and until today, the Egyptian initiative was successful in examining 15,441 Chadians citizens, among whom 715 tested positive for hepatitis C and have accordingly received treatment. Egypt’s Health Ministry sent medical and preventive supplies to Chad, including medication to treat 1,000 hepatitis C and B virus patients, and also a coronavirus detector.
For his part, Chad’s Minister of Health thanked Egypt’s Health Minister, Hala Zayed, for her continuous support for health projects in Chad. He praised the effort exerted by Egyptian teams to implement the 100 Million Healths initiative in Chad.
According to the Health Ministry, the Chad health endeavour comes within Egypt’s African efforts since it held the presidency of the African Union in 2019. It is part of the Long Live Egypt-Africa medical programme, launched by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, through which Egypt aims to treat one million Africans for various diseases, especially Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). This is done through Egyptian medical centres set up in a number of African countries. The first African One Million Healths Initiative was implemented by Egypt in Juba, South Sudan, in September 2019.; in November 2019 it was implemented in Asmara, Eritrea.
The African initiative is modelled after Egypt’s “100 million Healths” which was inaugurated in 2018 and which involved a comprehensive survey and treatment of Egyptians’ most prevalent maladies: Diabetes, Hypertension, and Hepatitis C virus. It aims at eradicating HCV in Egypt by 2023.
“Egypt has succeeded in examining more than 60 million citizens under the umbrella of the health initiative,” President Sisi said In September 2019 as he addressed the UN High-Level Meeting on universal health coverage on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly meetings in New York. Those found to be HCV-positive are treated at the expense of the State.
The World Health Organisation has been supporting Egypt in its 100 Million Healths initiative in Egypt and the One Million Healths in Africa. It has commended the country’s efforts, especially the inclusion of migrants and asylum seekers in Egypt in the initiative since March 2019.
Watani International
21 September 2020