Designup

Category: 2002

  • Community Based Health Insurance

    Community Based Health Insurance Project was funded by Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) and was implemented by Curatio International Foundation (CIF) during the period of September 2003 – September 2007. The objective of the project was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of community based health insurance (CBHI) schemes implemented by the selected communities in Georgia.

    More specifically, the project aimed to:

    Improve access to health services and provide financial protection for poor and vulnerable groups through increased community participation;
    Replicate seven pilot (CBHI) schemes implemented in Western Georgia in at least thirty six (36) other communities in Eastern and Western Georgia;
    Link the micro schemes (micro-insurance) that increase the size of the risk pool and generate economics of scale with management of the insurance schemes.
    This grant complemented the Development Credit Agreement (Credit Number 3702 GE) of the Primary Health Care Development Project dated November 8, 2002 between Georgia and IDA and facilitated the implementation of the Primary Health Care Development Project.

  • Georgia Health Information and Disease Surveillance Reform

    Georgia Health Information and Disease Surveillance Reform project was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Aid/ Caucasus (USAID) and was implemented in partnership with Partners for Health Reform Plus (PHRplus) Project and Curatio International Foundation. The objective of the project was to strengthen Immunization Management Information System (MIS) and Vaccine Preventable Disease (VPD) Surveillance. The project ran from January 2002 until September 2006.

    The project was designed and implemented in coordination with principal stakeholders from the Interagency Coordinating Committee (ICC) of Georgia. ICC members were invited from the Department of Public Health, Ministry of Labour, Health, and Social Affairs (MoLHSA), the National Centre for Disease Control and Medical Statistics (NCDC), and international organizations, such as USAID and UN Agencies (UNICEF, WHO). The project aimed to provide assistance to the Government of Georgia to improve the Immunization Information System and the Surveillance of Vaccine Preventable Diseases to provide public health managers, providers of health services, and other stakeholders with appropriate information for making correct strategic, tactical, and operative decisions to keep the VPD epidemiological situation under control. The project also aimed to reduce the morbidity and mortality burden of these diseases on the population and to determine how to use the available vaccines and other programme resources more efficiently.

    Immunization MIS:

    The improved MIS model is based on an accurate census of the child population, performed by every health facility in its catchments area on an annual basis. The model enables the Health workers to more accurately determine target population, project vaccine needs, compute immunization coverage, and evaluate performance of individual facilities. The reformed MIS model also includes a number of innovations that allow better immunization program management and more rational use of resources at all levels. Countrywide implementation of the reformed MIS was supported by the Decree of the MoLHSA.

    The reform package included:

    Immunization MIS guidelines for health care providers and public health workers
    Job aids for public health and facility workers
    Software application “GEOVAC” for the district, regional and National levels. The application improves the process of data unification, enables to determine poorly performing administrative units, and identifies underlying reasons causing the deficiencies.

  • Healthy Women in Georgia

    Healthy Women in Georgia (HWG) project was funded by U.S. Agency for International Aid (USAID) and implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute Inc. in collaboration with Curatio International Foundation, Save the Children, Orthos. The duration of the project was September 2003 – July 2006.

    The objective of the project was to improve women’s health in Georgia. The HWG Program targeted selected facilities in the Imereti region at regional and district levels, and ten ambulatories at the primary health care level. The program developed “Women- Friendly” health care information, counseling and services in facilities and communities. District and ambulatory health providers, pharmacists, and “sakrebulo” (village council) leadership were engaged in the program.

    “Parents’ Schools” for patients and clients were established in three district-level health care facilities, to provide information and counseling in formal courses. The HWG Program established a peer education system for adolescents in schools and community gathering places, and reached out to women in communities who did not attend health facilities.

    Georgia has one of the highest abortion rates in the world. The HWG Program strengthened access to and availability and quality of modern methods of contraception for family planning, as safe and effective alternatives to abortion.

    The objectives of the project:

    Establish sustainable, accessible, and high quality “Women-Friendly” services in “combined” facilities (which respectively include a Maternity Hospital, Women’s Consultation Center, and Reproductive Health Cabinet) at regional and district levels in Kutaisi, Zestaphoni and Chiatura;.
    Strengthen provision of women’s health information, counseling, and services, including antenatal care, contraception, and family planning at primary health care level in ten “ambulatories”, located in the coverage areas of the two facilities in Zestaphoni and Chiatura, develop referral procedures from primary to secondary level facilities, and encourage health providers to reach out to the village-based;.
    Target women, men, and adolescents (patients/clients, service “drop-outs,” and those who have never attended health facilities) living in the coverage areas of the regional, district, and primary care facilities, increase their knowledge, and affect their practices and behaviors to improve healthy life styles and women’s health status;.
    Increase availability and use of modern contraceptives as an alternative to present high rates of abortion, and to prevent sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) and contribute to the health of mothers and infants;
    Update and improve women’s health care knowledge and skills among health care providers, with reference to WHO standards and international research-based medical and program evidence.

  • Health System Resource Centre

    The Health System Resource Centre (HSRC) provides access to technical assistance, knowledge, and information in support of pro-poor health policies, financing, and services, for the Department for International Development of UK and its international and national partners. The duration of the project was 2002 – 2005.

    HSRC services are delivered by an international consortium of seven partner organizations, bringing together a wealth of research and operational expertise in national and international health policy issues and system development:

    Aga Khan Health Services, Community Department (CHD), Kenya;
    Centre de Recherchers et d’Etudes pour le Developpement de la Sante (CREDES), France;
    Curatio International Foundation (CIF); Georgia;
    The Harvard School of Public Health’s International Health Systems Group (IHSG), USA;
    The Institute of Development Studies, (IDS), UK;
    The Institute for Health Sector Development (IHSD), UK;
    The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Sri Lanka.
    The HSRC works with national, regional, and international initiatives in support of health system capacity to deliver affordable health services to the indigent people in the developing countries.

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  • Health Reform and Hospital Financing in Georgia

    The publication aims to analyze hospital financing and delivery of inpatient services, financial requirements of the hospitals, and their ability to meet these determinant requirements. There were different types of methods used during this work. By means of standardized questionnaire data on financial performance of 41 hospitals were collected. Patient survey, group discussions with hospital administrators, and interviews with policy-makers were also used. As a result it appeared that thirty-three hospitals were unable to recover full costs, and 29 were unable to recover full costs excluding capital consumption cost. Medium-sized hospitals recovered only 63.5% of full costs. They employed salary equalization policies, which increased the share of fixed costs, perpetuated the oversupply of medical personnel, and yielded low pays. Hospitals charged in excess of their officially accounted costs but, and due to the low collection rates, cost recovery rates were below the officially accounted costs (87.6%).In conclusion it can be said that low official reimbursement rates and patient unawareness of official hospital costs creates conducive environment for shifting major turnover of the real hospital costs to the patients, resulting in illegal patients charging.

    Authors:Avtandil Jorbenadze, Akaki Zoidze, David Gzirirshvili, George Gotsadze.

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  • Reform strategies in Georgia and their impact on health care provision in rural areas: evidence from a household survey

    This paper aims to contribute to the assessment of the impact of health sector reforms in Georgia. It mainly focuses on changes in the patterns of health services utilization in rural areas of the country as a function of implemented changes in healthcare financing on a primary health care (PHC) level. Our findings are based on a household survey, which was carried out during summer 2002. Conclusions derived from the findings could be of interest to policy makers in transitional countries. The paper argues that health financing reforms on the PHC level initiated by the Government of Georgia, aimed at decreasing financial access barriers for the population in the countryside have rendered initial positive results and improved access to essential PHC services. However, to sustain and enhance this attainments the government should ensure equity, improve the targeting mechanisms for the indigent population and mobilize additional public and private funds for financing primary care in the country. Read further.