CAIRO –Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed has urged support for Egypt in the field of scientific research.
In a meeting with Mark Edington, the head of the grant management division at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Tuesday, Zayed stressed the need to encourage world companies to work with Egypt in the manufacture of pharmaceutical raw materials.
She made it clear that 100 percent of drugs of AIDS are secured from the Egyptian state budget.
Of all 16 types, Egypt produces eight drugs prescribed for the treatment of AIDS, the minister told Edington.
Today’s meeting was held on the fringe of Zayed’s visit to Switzerland to discuss means to boost cooperation with a number of international organizations in the health field.
The meeting was attended by Egypt’s permanent envoy to the UN Ahmed Ehab Gamal elDin.
A statement by the Health Ministry said Tuesday that Zayed thanked the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for its support for activities in Egypt over the past two years.
The Fund has also helped Egypt counter the coronavirus pandemic through supplying the Health Ministry with protective clothing and tens of thousands of PCR testers, as well as cooling equipment of Covid vaccines.
Zayed reviewed Egypt’s efforts to eliminate malaria in Upper Egypt and North Sudan, said spokesman for the Health Ministry Dr Khaled Megahed Tuesday.
The meeting also took up ways to benefit from Egypt’s expertise in fighting the Malaria disease, Megahed said.
She and Edington also discussed ways to increase grants offered to Egypt to support medical staff and hospitals, as well as research programs in the Arab country, the spokesman added.
Zayed proposed that the Fund depend on Egyptian pharmaceutical factories to secure TB and AIDS drugs and export them abroad, Megahed said, noting those drugs are locally produced in Egypt.
Edington, for his part, said the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria greatly appreciates Egypt’s efforts to upgrade the health sector over the past years and keep the country free of Malaria.
He was pleased with low rates of Malaria and AIDS infections in Egypt, especially as the world faces yet another challenge due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Fund fully supports Egypt in major health files and joint activities, and will continue to help Egypt counter the Covid-19 through backing the diagnosis and laboratory systems in the Arab country, Edington said.
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