Egypt aims to reduce deaths due to TB by 90%: Health Minister

CAIRO - 9 September 2024: The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population organized a training course entitled (Combating Tuberculosis, COVID-19 and Respiratory Infections in African Countries), under the auspices of Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, and in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Egyptian Agency for Partnership for Development, at the headquarters of the National Center for Training and Research on Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases.

 

Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, expressed his greetings and appreciation to the Japanese government, represented by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) office in Cairo, for all the support it provides to Egypt in the health sector, as well as what it provides to various African countries.

 

The Deputy Prime Minister referred to Egypt's pioneering role in combating tuberculosis, and his appreciation for choosing Egypt to lead this training to address a wide range of issues related to tuberculosis, COVID-19 and other respiratory infections, and to assume responsibility towards eliminating tuberculosis, improving access to high-quality, patient-centered tuberculosis treatments, drug-resistant tuberculosis, strengthening tuberculosis service delivery platforms, and accelerating research and innovation.

 

Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar stated that the Ministry of Health and Population has adopted its new strategy to eradicate tuberculosis through specific pillars. Under this strategy, new, ambitious and feasible global goals have been proposed by 2030. These goals include achieving a 90 percent reduction in deaths due to tuberculosis compared to 2015, and reaching an equivalent 85 percent reduction in the incidence of tuberculosis.

 

Dr. Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Population, said that the minister stressed that epidemics have become the focus of global attention, and should not be viewed only as a phenomenon of scientific importance in order to be controlled. Rather, they should be viewed in light of the major social and economic impacts, and their devastating effects on routine health services and progress towards the sustainable development goals.

 

The official spokesperson added that the minister indicated that the Egyptian state has given priority to developing tuberculosis control services through 32 hospitals and 123 chest centers, and they are integrated with hospitals in other sectors such as universities, the army, the police and refugee centers.

 

The official spokesman pointed out that Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar signaled the importance of involving communities, civil society organizations, and public and private care providers, as it is an important pillar adopted by the Egyptian Tuberculosis Control Program since developing the TB Stop Strategy.

 

Dr. Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population, explained that the training course was attended by 12 trainees from 12 African countries, including (Senegal, Mozambique, Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Madagascar, Eswatini, South Sudan, Guinea, Zimbabwe, and Somalia), and the training was conducted by an elite group of tuberculosis and chest disease experts, within the framework of enhancing fruitful cooperation between Egypt and its African brothers in the field of combating various epidemics.

 

Abdel Ghaffar added that the training aims to raise the capacity and efficiency of participants from African countries and provide them with the necessary skills to contribute to the strategy to eliminate infectious diseases in their countries with the knowledge and skills acquired during the training, and to provide the opportunity for participants to consider the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and other emerging respiratory infections related to the strategy to eliminate tuberculosis and its activities and how to overcome them.

 

For his part, Dr. Peter Wagih, Head of the Therapeutic Medicine Sector, pointed out that participants were trained to acquire the necessary analytical skills for tuberculosis, Covid-19 and respiratory infections, the registration and reporting system in their areas of responsibility, strategic planning, supervision, monitoring and evaluation.  

 

In turn, Dr. Wagdy Amin, Director of the Chest Diseases Department, said that the training aims to familiarize participants with the basic principles of emerging respiratory viruses and how to respond effectively to the outbreak of the disease through a holistic approach.