The US Time magazine has chosen Head of the Egypt’s National Committee for Prevention and Control of Viral Hepatitis, Dr Khaled Kabil, among the world’s 100 most influential characters in the field of health (Time’s 100 Health).
A decade ago, Egypt had one of the world’s highest rates of hepatitis C, a viral infection that spreads through contact with infected blood and damages the liver, sometimes fatally, the Time wrote.
But in 2023, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recognised Egypt as the first country in the world on track to fully eradicate the disease by 2030, in a feat that the WHO’s director-general called “nothing short of astounding”, the magazine added.
The man behind much of this historic effort is Dr Kabil, who has led Egypt’s National Committee for Prevention and Control of Viral Hepatitis since it was founded in 2006.
During his tenure, Egypt conducted a sweeping, nationwide testing and treatment campaign, made possible through a deal to purchase antiviral drugs at a steep discount and manufacture generic forms of the treatments within Egypt for even less money.
Dr Kabil is also credited with having led efforts to open and staff 150 treatment centres throughout Egypt, which have now reached millions of people and helped bring hepatitis C prevalence to below 1 per cent of the country’s population, the magazine said.
Egypt’s efforts have been so successful, in fact, that the country has begun donating hepatitis C drugs to other African countries, in an effort to promote progress beyond its borders and improve global health at scale, Time magazine noted.
