WHO honors Egypt for progress in Hepatitis C elimination

CAIRO, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Monday received "Gold Tier" status from the World Health Organization (WHO) for its remarkable progress toward the elimination of Hepatitis C Virus as a public health problem.

According to the statement released by the Egyptian presidency, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus handed over Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi the WHO certification for Egypt's progress in Hepatitis C elimination.

"Egypt has become the first country in the world to receive the Gold Tier status on the path to elimination of Hepatitis C after achieving, in record time, a global success story from being the highest in terms of high rates of Virus C infection to the first country in the world to reach this outstanding level in eliminating the virus," said the WHO chief.

Egypt has diagnosed 87 percent of people living with hepatitis C and provided 93 percent of those diagnosed with curative treatment, exceeding the WHO gold tier targets of diagnosing at least 80 percent of people living with hepatitis C and providing treatment to at least 70 percent of diagnosed people, said a WHO statement posted on the official website.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population statistics, Egypt succeeded in curing 4.5 million infected cases.