Confirmation expected in coming weeks, representative for health body says Government campaign launched in 2014 credited with driving breakthrough CAIRO: Egypt is set to become one of the first countries in the world to be declared free of hepatitis C, according to a World Health Organization official. Naima Al-Qaseer, the WHO’s representative for Egypt, said the North African nation had submitted papers declaring it was free of the disease and an announcement would be made by the Geneva-based health organization in the coming weeks, Egypt’s official news agency reported. “We are also working with the Egyptian Health Ministry to complete the requirements and fill all gaps as soon as possible so that we can make the announcement,” she said. Egypt had worked “extensively and intensively” to become free of hepatitis C through a presidential initiative known as “100 Million Healthy Lives,” which had received global praise, she added. FASTFACTS • Egypt has worked extensively and intensively to become free of hepatitis C through a presidential initiative known as ‘100 Million Healthy Lives,’ which had received global praise. • According to data from the Health Ministry, Egypt has achieved a recovery rate of nearly 99 percent for hepatitis C in recent years. • Egypt’s success in developing effective medicines hasresulted in the cost of treatment falling to $100 per patient. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said this week at the opening of the “Second African Medical Conference and Exhibition” that the announcement would be made in the coming weeks. According to data from the Health Ministry, Egypt has achieved a recovery rate of nearly 99 percent for hepatitis C in recent years. Its success in developing effective medicines had resulted in the cost of treatment falling to $100 per patient, from $64,000 in 2013, saving the state more than $2.5 billion, Ahmed El-Sayed, who works for the Egyptian Drug Authority, told Arab News. He said a campaign launched in 2014 by the Egyptian government to detect and treat hepatitis C — which led to more than 60 million people being examined and 4 million being treated — had been pivotal in the country achieving its success in defeating the disease. The government invested $442.5 million in the campaign, with a further $530 million coming from the World Bank, he said.