The Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Roche Diagnostics to establish a nationwide Digital Pathology programme, supporting Egypt’s efforts to strengthen diagnostic capacity and expand access to timely and accurate diagnosis across all governorates, including remote and underserved areas.
The agreement builds on ongoing collaboration and supports the integration of digital pathology into public healthcare services. By converting pathology samples into high-resolution digital images that can be securely shared for expert review, digital pathology helps accelerate diagnosis, improve accuracy and expand access to specialised expertise, particularly in locations where pathology consultants are limited.
The programme will be anchored at the Egyptian Centre for Disease Control (CDC), serving as the central hub of the Digital Pathology network, with additional sites connected across different governorates to enable primary diagnosis and rapid access to second opinions.
Digital pathology also addresses a critical challenge across Africa, where many countries have approximately one pathologist per one million people, compared to around one per 25,000 in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The initiative aligns with the Presidential Women’s Health Initiatives, particularly in breast cancer, where Roche has supported diagnosis and treatment pathways. Since 2019, the initiative has recorded more than 65.6 million medical visits and detected approximately 33,500 breast cancer cases.
“Strengthening diagnostic infrastructure is essential to the success of national health initiatives. Through this collaboration, digital pathology will help expand access to high-quality diagnosis, particularly in areas where specialized expertise is limited,” said Mohamed Hassani, Deputy Minister of Health for Public Health Initiatives.
