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| Hepatitis C in Egypt Program |
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| In Egypt, hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of liver disease and a leading cause of death. Egypt has the highest HCV seroprevalence in the world estimated at 10-13% of the country’s population of 73 million. The geographical distribution of HCV in rural areas along the Nile has been linked to the endemicity of schistosomiasis and its injection-based treatment before 1984 (when injections were replaced by oral therapy). Most Egyptian cases of hepatitis C are due to genotype 4 viruses, which are uncommon in the West and understudied. The major known risk factors associated with HCV infection in Egypt are past history of anti-schistosomal injections, administration of other injections, circumcision or other procedures performed by non-medical personnel and transfusion of blood or blood products especially prior to 1994 (when blood screening for HCV became widely applied in Egypt). Even now, a significant number of ongoing transmissions remain unexplained. The magnitude and healthcare implications of HCV-related disease in Egypt pose special challenges. Important questions include factors influencing ongoing transmission, treatment candidacy feasibility and effectiveness, disease progression, protective immunity and the interaction between HCV and schistosomiasis. Egypt is a unique, important and challenging environment for studying the epidemiology, treatment and pathogenesis of hepatitis C.
The Hepatitis C in Egypt Program is dedicated to sustainable research in the field of hepatitis C. We currently have five programmatic areas in Egypt:
- Small Grants Program: Provides seed funding of up to $10,000 USD to young Egyptian scientists who have submitted a laudable proposal on viral hepatitis research in Egypt.
- Workshop Program: Organizes and carries out annual workshops in Egypt on topics such as scientific writing for publication, grant writing, immunology, clinical and research aspects of Hepatitis C, and setting up a grants office in scientific institutions.
- Ibrahim El-Hefni Scholarship Program: Fosters inter-institutional collaboration between the US and Egypt and provides supervised research training for young Egyptian investigators for 1-2 years in the US.
- Research Program: Sponsors Hepatitis C research studies and helps develop laboratory infrastructure in Egypt.
- Information Technology Program: Helps to develop the information technology available to academic institutions and scientists in Egypt.
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