As Egypt continues to be home to the largest number of Hepatitis C patients, the World Health Organization (WHO) selected Egypt to host its 2015 flagship event for the World Hepatitis Day on July 28, dedicating the day this year to promoting virus prevention. According to the WHO, an estimate of 40,000 lives are lost annually in Egypt to the highly infectious virus which is most commonly transmitted through infected blood and the use of unsterilized syringes. However, Egyptian Health Minister Adel el-Adawi announced on Tuesday that the disease rate has decreased from 10 percent in 2008 to 7 percent among Egypt’s population aged 15 to 59. “Just about every family in Egypt is touched by hepatitis C,” says Dr Henk Bekedam, WHO Representative in the country. Despite the noticeable influx of patients who have registered for the treatment Sovaldi on the government website released last September, awareness remains a core problem to the spreading of Hepatitis C in Egypt. During today’s event, Hany, a former Virus C patient and the first to register for the treatment online shared that he was unaware of when or how he was infected,…
