Egypt’s Minister of Health, Khaled Abdel-Ghaffar,praised today the long-standing strategic ties between Egypt and Türkiye, citing co-operation in the health sector for achieving sustainable regional health security.
Minister Abdel-Ghaffar said that the coming period requires real integration in pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing to serve more than 200 million people in the region.
His remarks came during the opening of the 11thWorld Medical Congress, held in Ankara on November 24-26.
Abdel-Ghaffar highlighted Egypt’s major achievements in combating infectious diseases, including the complete elimination of Hepatitis C after screening 63 million people and reducing infection rates from over 14 percent to just 0.38 percent.
This milestone earned Egypt the World Health Organisation’s gold certificate as the first country to fully eliminate the disease.
He also noted Egypt’s strong control of Hepatitis B, the elimination of trachoma in 2025, and its declaration as malaria-free after a century of efforts supported by advanced digital surveillance systems.
He added that these advances are supported by 15 presidential public health initiatives, the National Egyptian Genome Project — seen as a key step toward precision medicine — and Egypt’s leading role in securing the first international resolution on rare diseases.
The rollout of the comprehensive health insurance system, which aims to cover the entire population by 2030, will also create unified market of 110 million people.
Abdel-Ghaffar called for stronger Egyptian–Turkish co-operation in pharmaceutical manufacturing, biotechnology, and scientific research, saying Egypt is ready to support joint projects through the “golden license” and special incentives.
He stressed that such a partnership could become a model for regional health security and sustainable development.
