CAIRO: Egyptian university students are fighgting back against the country's widedspread hepatitis problem, and their successful campus campaign is going nationwide this week. Egypt's National Committee for Control of Viral Hepatitis (NCCVH) held ceremonies at Ain Shams University on Oct. 27 to announce progress from the campaign's pilot phase at Ain Shams and Tanta universities and to celebrate the campaign's expansion to six more universities: Alexandria, Assiut, Cairo, Menoufiya, Suez Canal, and Zagazig. They were joined by officials from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which funds the university campaign, and the Ministry of Health and Population, which is implementing the campaign with the Center for Communication Programs at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Sheila Dixon, Mayor of Baltimore, was honored at the event. Ten to 15 percent of Egypt's population suffers from some form of viral hepatitis, and Egypt's rate of hepatitis C infection is among the highest in the world, according to the campain's organizers. The University Campaign for the Prevention of Viral Hepatitis is aimed at driving awareness of the need for vaccination, proper practices to prevent the spread of hepatitis such as not sharing personal care items that may have come into contact with bodily fluid, and encouraging people with hepatitis to seek care. In order to attract more Egyptian institutions to suport the campaign, organizers are highlighting accomplisments since its launch in March. In a press statement the organizers said that some 8,000 university students voluntarily opted to receive vaccination against hepatitis B. Ain Shams University's Faculty of Medicine decided to make hep-B vaccination mandatory for medical students. Other universities are considering adopting a similar requirement. More than 30,000 students received information from 50 peer educators at public kiosks, workshops, and fun events involving celebrities and sports competitions.
