Egypt is the first country to keep WHO's hepatitis C gold tier status

The World Health Organization has confirmed that Egypt keeps its gold tier status on the path to eliminating hepatitis C, making it the first country to retain the level after a review. The review looked at Egypt's prevention, testing and treatment work from 2023 to 2025, and WHO's regional validation committee approved it in July 2026, according to reports by MENA and CairoScene.

Egypt first reached the gold tier in 2023. Over a little more than a decade, the share of people with hepatitis C fell from around 10% to under 0.38%. The 100 Million Healthy Lives campaign screened more than 60 million people and treated more than 4.5 million patients.

WHO said testing, diagnosis and treatment are now part of the ordinary health system rather than one-off campaigns, offered through primary health care and universal health insurance, with better lab standards, disease tracking and blood safety. A national plan for 2025 to 2030 is meant to keep the progress going.

For residents, nothing changes in how to get tested: hepatitis C testing and treatment stay available through primary health care units and, where it has started, the universal health insurance system. No new campaign dates were announced with the review.