Emerging from the screening of 57 million citizens and treating 4 million patients: future strategies to eliminate hepatitis C from Egypt

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Egypt succeeded in establishing a successful model of care for hepatitis C virus (HCV) management in the country with the highest worldwide disease prevalence. The Egyptian ministry of health announced an optimistic goal of near disease elimination. More steps are still required to achieve such a goal.

Areas covered

This review covers the efforts made in treatment and prevention of HCV by the Egyptian National Committee for the Control of Viral Hepatitis (NCCVH) with emphasis on the extensive screening program that was able to screen more than 57 million citizens, and future strategies implemented to ensure eradicating the virus from the country.

Expert opinion

Despite the great efforts and the proven success in controlling the HCV epidemic in Egypt, some facets of the Egyptian program still need to be upgraded to reach the HCV elimination goal. A significant workload with follow up programs for those who were successfully treated, and treatment failure cases are existing. More enhancement for the currently performed prevention and control measure is missing. Also, we strongly recommend conducting a recent nationwide survey to document the actual infection rates of HCV after all these efforts.

KEYWORDS:

• DAAs
• Egypt
• elimination
• HCV
• screening

Article highlights

• Egypt succeeded in establishing a useful model of care for HCV management in the country with the highest worldwide disease prevalence that was able to treat about 4 million patients.

• The sizeable Egyptian program relied on establishing a network of specialized viral hepatitis treatment facilities that provide integrated care for HCV patients

• A sizeable nationwide screening program ‘100 Million Health campaign’ was conducted in Egypt over six months to screen more than 57 million citizens for HCV serology.

• One of the significant challenges facing Egypt after the successful HCV screening and treatment programs is the need to maintain this success by making more efforts towards prevention. Despite the implemented great efforts in the field of HCV management in Egypt, some limitations could delay the complete elimination of the disease.

Acknowledgments

This work benefited from the contribution and expertise of HCV Center of Excellence, part of Knowledge and Technology Alliance (KTA), supported by the Egyptian Science and Technology Development Fund (STDF).

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.