The Preventive Medicine Sector at the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population has announced that Egypt has been elected as a member of the joint coordination council of the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The announcement came on the sidelines of the 65th round of the meetings of the regional committee of WHO held in Khartoum on 15-18 October.

The head of the Preventive Medicine Sector said that Egypt has been elected to be a member of the council for four years as a representative of Middle East countries.

Meanwhile, health and population ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said that Egypt's election to the position is considered an important step towards combating infectious and endemic diseases regionally and internationally.