Egypt rolls out new health initiative in South Sudan

September 29, 2019 (CAIRO/JUBA) – The Egyptian Health Ministry said it screened 221 people in South Sudan as part of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s “100 million healthy lives” initiative to provide medical examinations and treatment to 1 million Hepatitis C patients in Africa.

The initiative, it said, was announced by al-Sisi during a speech at the end of the Arab-African Youth Forum in Aswan in March this year.

Working in collaboration with South Sudan’s Health ministry, Egypt said its medical team have been screening and examining people.

The head of the Egyptian medical team for South Sudan, Mohamed Gad, said that the plan is to screen 10,000 South Sudanese citizens during a mission and to treat 1,000 patients infected with Hepatitis C.

He also revealed that the Egyptian medical team and leaders of South Sudan’s Health Ministry will visit several educational hospitals in Juba, to discuss the general standards required for the accreditation of training centres in the hospitals and specialities most in need.

Mohamed said an agreement was reached with South Sudan’s Health ministry train some of the nursing cadres at the Egyptian Health Ministry’s hospitals. At least 15 nursing cadres are reportedly set to be dispatched each month for training in various specialities.

Egypt’s “100 million healthy lives” initiative was reportedly launched in October 2018 to screen for Hepatitis C and other non-communicable diseases, targeting people aged 19-59 for scanning.

(ST)