Roche Diagnostics is supporting Egypt's expansion of digital pathology and the integration of artificial intelligence into its public health system to improve the speed and accuracy of diagnoses, particularly in underserved regions, a company official said. The initiatives are being rolled out in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the Universal Health Insurance (UHI) system, according to Liliane Kanaan, North Africa Lead and General Manager for Egypt at Roche Diagnostics.
Egypt is one of the first countries in Africa to adopt digital pathology at scale. The technology digitises tissue samples, allowing them to be viewed and analysed remotely.
"By reducing diagnostic turnaround times and enabling telepathology, this innovation will improve both the speed and equity of care delivery," Kanaan said. "In underserved communities, digital pathology will facilitate timely first opinions, helping patients receive a diagnosis locally without the need for extensive travel."
For more complex cases, the system allows for rapid second opinions from national or international experts.
"This significantly decreases the travel time and physical burden on both patients and healthcare professionals, while also accelerating diagnosis and treatment planning," Kanaan added.
Roche is also collaborating with national stakeholders to integrate AI into diagnostic workflows by deploying digital pathology scanners and AI-powered tools to modernise hospital pathology laboratories. Kanaan said this helps reduce the burden on healthcare professionals and directly addresses a critical skills gap.
"Notably, this solution directly addresses the severe shortage of pathologists across Africa, where statistics reveal there is approximately one pathologist for every one million people—compared to a ratio of about 1 to 25,000 in countries like the United States and United Kingdom," she said.
The company, which has operated in Egypt for over two decades, has been involved in several national health programmes. Kanaan cited collaborations that have contributed to national health outcomes, including Egypt's Hepatitis C elimination campaign.
"Roche played a key role in deploying national screening efforts, contributing to Egypt's recognition as a WHO Golden Tier country for HCV elimination—an achievement that reflects both the scale and effectiveness of the programme," she stated.
Other past partnerships include supporting the national blood safety strategy with Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT) technology at the National Blood Transfusion Center and providing over two million tests during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company continues to support the Presidential Breast Cancer Initiative, launched in 2019, which has screened more than 30 million women to date.
Aligning with national priorities like the Presidential Women's Health Initiative ensures innovation addresses the population's most pressing needs, Kanaan said. As part of this, Roche supported the upgrade of more than 26 public pathology laboratories across Egypt.
"These 26 upgraded sites enabled us to deliver over 20,000 full breast cancer diagnostic panels, an essential step in defining effective treatment plans for patients," she said.
Roche is also participating in the national cervical cancer early detection campaign, which has screened more than 20,000 women in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and several non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
To meet the region's specific needs, Kanaan said the company localises its solutions by engaging with stakeholders including the Ministry of Health, UHI, military hospitals, academic institutions and NGOs. This involves providing comprehensive solutions that go beyond product sales to include capacity-building programmes, lab software and health consultancy services tailored to local infrastructure and regulations.
