Breast cancer clinics to open in three governorates: Health Insurance Authority

CAIRO – 22 December 2018: The General Authority for Health Insurance announced that the ‘100 Million Seha’ initiative by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi targets checking 50 million Egyptian citizens for HCV and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure.

Head of the General Authority for Health Insurance Suhair Abdel-Hamid said during the 2^nd cultural seminar on HCV to raise awareness against the dangers of HCV and non-communicable diseases.

Abdel-Hamid further added that clinics to check women for breast cancer will be deployed across three governorates on Jan. 15.

New record has been achieved in the number of Egyptians who were examined as part of the Ministry of Health initiative ‘100 Million Seha’ to end Hepatitis C in Egypt under the auspices of President Sisi; Minister of Health Hala Zayed said.

She added in a statement last week that the total number of examined Egyptians has reached 14.2 Million. “About 500,000 Egyptian are being examined daily since the beginning of phase two of the initiative, which kicked off in December.” Zayed explained.

The minister also welcomed several international officials and representatives during the past period, whom showed great interest in the governmental campaign. “We are looking for conveying the Egyptian experience to stop Hepatitis C to all other countries around the world, including Africa,” World Bank’s Health and Nutrition Manager in the Middle East North Africa Region, Ernest Massiah, said during his visit to Cairo following up with the governmental Campaign.

He affirmed that the initiative has proven positive effect on Egyptian’s health.

In November, Zayed said that the second phase of the state’s campaign to end Hepatitis C in Egypt by 2020 will be implemented starting December 1.

The second phase was announced to include 11 governorates, including Cairo, North Sinai, Red Sea, Ismailia, Suez, Kafr el-Sheikh, Menoufia, Beni Suef, Sohag, Luxor, and Aswan. The second phase is set to end late in February 2019.

In October, Zayed said that a campaign to test people for Hepatitis C would run from October 1 to the end of April 2019, stressing that patients would receive treatment for one to one and a half year to announce Egypt free from the blood-borne disease by 2020 or 2021.

Concerning the first phase of the campaign, Khaled Megahed, the Health Ministry spokesman said about 10 million citizens were examined for Hepatitis C within 90 days.

Zayed revealed that 422,000 people of the total number of people examined tested positive for Hepatitis C.