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Category: NEWS

  • Fourth Wave Results of Pharmaceutical Study Published

    Curatio International Foundation has completed a study exploring ‘Price, Affordability and Availability of Medicines in Georgia’. The study was divided into three stages and carried out in 2009-2001.

    The key aim of the study is to improve affordability and availability of medicines for the population.

    Based on a three-year observation of pharmacies and different medicines in Georgia, Curatio International Foundation studied the practice in the pharmaceutical sector and came up with recommendations based on research findings. The recommendations will be presented to the broad audience of the health sector – the Health Care Committee of Parliament, the Ministry of Health, the insurance sector and other interested parties.

    The study was conducted using the methodology of the World Health Organization (WHO). The survey looked at prices and mark-ups of 52 medicines (brand-name medicines and their cheap generic equivalents) over the period of three years in licensed pharmacies nationwide.

    Findings and recommendations of three stages were unveiled in December 2011.

    Read more on study methodology, findings and recommendations- Presentation (available in English) and Brief (available in Georgian).

  • CIF Calls for participation in internship program for 2012-2013

    Curatio International Foundation launches its internship program for 2012-2013 years and invites interns from around the world who are studying at masters or Ph.D. level and who are interested to have first-hand experience in the real-life setting and to contribute to the research projects implemented by the organization.

    Since 2002 CIF has hosted number of students from world’s leading universities such as Johns Hopkins, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Yale etc.

    Timing of the Internships

    – Winter interns (December through February) from 2 to 8 weeks
    – Summer interns (June through September) from 1 to 4 month

    Terms of the Internships

    CIF provides following to the interns:

    – Office space and access to internet communication and office equipment;
    – Access to on-line library with more than 8,000 information resources and in 30 different languages;
    – Internship coordinator, who provides continuous guidance around the research topic and support to an intern during their stay in Georgia and after their departure, during scientific paper preparation;
    – Logistical support prior to arrival to Georgia and during their stay, which includes following but not limited to: acceptance letter to facilitate obtaining travel grants from different donors, support for finding accommodation in Tbilisi-Georgia, guidance for travel, etc.
    – Block grant in the amount of 500 USD will be provided to an intern arriving for the period of 8 or more weeks. Shorter internships will receive 300 USD as a one-time payment.

    The Benefits to Interns are:

    – Ability to apply knowledge and research skills on practice and satisfy project requirements at their school;
    – Contribute to and be one of the authors of a scientific paper published in a peer reviewed journal with high impact factor;
    – Interact with the professionals continuously involved/contributing to policy making process;
    – Visit country of Georgia well known for its beautiful nature, history, culture, hospitality, wine and cuisine.

    Intellectual property

    A scientific paper production will be regulated by an International Research Exchange Agreement between CIF and the intern that articulates CIF’s position on the intellectual property.

    Interns will be given right to use the data for their dissertation or course paper, per university’s requirement, but the rights will be ONLY transferred for the pre-agreed scientific work which will be elaborated in the International Research Exchange Agreement between CIF and the intern.

    Responsibility of Intern

    In close collaboration with CIF researchers interns are expected to contribute to and be author of at least one scientific paper, which will be published in international peer-reviewed journal.

    Application Process

    Applications are accepted twice during a year

    – Deadline for application for winter internship is October 20th
    – Deadline for application for summer internship is March 31st

    Interested candidates are required to submit following documents via e-mail (cif@curatio.com):

    – Motivation letter, indicating which research topics they have selected (see the list of research themes currently in implementation at CIF) and how they can contribute to the research project;
    – Detailed Curriculum Vitae
    – Support letter from their school indicating applicants capabilities relative to the requirements stated in the research themes section for the selected research topic.

    Selected candidates will be notified:

    – On or before October 31st for winter internships
    – On or before April 15th for summer internship

    Read the full description of announcement and research topics for 2012-2013 years.

  • Curatio International Foundation revealed the winner of its annual scholarship program

    Curatio International Foundation named Ana Kasradze as the winner of its annual scholarship program. Ana is the master’s program student at the Tbilisi State University, Department of International Public Health. Ana is actively involved in annual conferences and study visits helping her professional and academic growth. In 2011 she participated in online certificate program on Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Florida.

    Currently, Ana Kasradze is employed at National Center for Disease Control and Public Health in the capacity of Outbreak and Bioterrorism Division Specialist.
    Ana is extremely excited for being granted the scholarship and is sure that this opportunity will futher contribute to her professional growth.

    Ana Kasradze: ‘The scholarship of the Curatio International Foundation is the best opportunity for me as it will help me further deepen my knowledge in epidemiology. I’m trying to build my career on past achievements and obtained knowledge which, will be definately used for the benefit of my country. The scholarship of Curatio will enable me to cover study costs at International School of Public Health.’

    Awards ceremony will take place in the beginning of the academic year.

  • Impact of global HIV/AIDS initiatives on health systems in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia

    During January-July 2010 Curatio International Foundation in collaboration with London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and other partners started exploring the effects of Global Fund HIV programmes on the roles of civil society organisations (CSOs) in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine. The study attempt to assess CSO advocacy efforts to reform HIV/AIDS and drug related Policies in three former Soviet Union countries.

    In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine by national researchers with representatives from a sample of 49 civil society organizations (CSOs) and 22 national key informants.

    On July 4th findings of the study were published in Health Policy and Planning, titled as Has Global Fund support for civil society advocacy in the Former Soviet Union established meaningful engagement or ‘a lot of jabber about nothing’?

    As the results of the study prompt the Global Fund support resulted in the professionalization of CSOs, which increased confidence from government and increased CSO influence on policies relating to HIV/AIDS and illicit drugs. Interviewees also reported that the amount of funding for advocacy from the Global Fund was insufficient, indirect and often interrupted. CSOs were often in competition for Global Fund support, which caused resentment and limited collective action, further weakening capacity for effective advocacy.

    The study was funded by the Open Society Foundations.

    Read the full version of the paper online.

    Download the paper.

  • Submission of Applications for CIF Scholarship for Master Program Students near to deadline

    The deadline for submission documentations for CIF web site is approaching to deadline, June 15.

    Master program students of Public Health Management or BA with focus on Public Health management from accredited universities in Georgia are encouraged to participate in the scholarship program for 2012-2013 years.

    Description is available in Georgian.

  • Health care in Georgia is currently available for very rich and very poor

    As the lead key informant to the policy brief on Medical Insurance for the Poor: impact on access and affordability of health services in Georgia says, the “health care in Georgia is currently affordable for very reach and very poor”. This conclusion grounds on the findings of the study that explored one of the most critical issues- affordability of health care services in Georgia. The matter is among top five most important national issues for a large part of the Georgian population. Medical Insurance for the Poor (MIP), a public program initiated in 2007, provides private insurance coverage to one fifth of the Georgian population and is aimed to protect its beneficiaries from financial hardship and impoverishment that may be caused by health care expenditures.

    The study assessed the impact of Medical Health Insurance (MIP) for the Poor on equity in access to essential health care services and financial protection against health care costs for the poor and general population. The document briefly describes identified accomplishments and shortcoming of the public private partnership in realization of MIP and discusses emerging policy options and policy recommendations on the future of MIP.

    The study was financially and technically supported by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research/World Health Organization and carried out by Curatio International Foundation.

    Read the full version of the Policy Brief here to find out more on key findings, achievements and policy recommendations.

    Read the full study report.

  • Presentation of the findings of Assessment of Complex Non-Communicable Condition in Low Income Countries

    Use of Multi-Method Rapid Evaluation to Assess Complex Non-Communicable Condition in Low Income Countries

    At Geneva Health Forum 2012 Curatio International Foundation presented a study preliminary findings which looks at evaluation of health systems performance in low-resource settings with regard to diabetes management. With the use of multi-method rapid evaluation the authors assess complex non-communicable condition (diabetes) in five Former Soviet Union countries.

    The study seeks to identify core problems and pragmatic policy options will be developed to address these gaps. The study is implemented in the frame of the 7th framework program supported HITT-CIS project.

    Authors: Dina Balabanova, Martin McKee, Ivdity Chikovani, Oksana Ivanuto. Presented by Ivdity Chikovani

    See the abstract here.

    See the Newsletter.

  • Poster Presentation at Copenhagen 2012 Conference on HIV

    Curatio International Foundation presented two posters at Copenhagen 2012 Conference- HIV in Europe.

    One of the posters presented results of Bio-Behavioural surveys among Injecting Drug Users in five cities of Georgia in 2008-2009 and specifically explored Low testing uptake and their determinants among this high risk group in Georgia. Authors: Ivdity Chikovani, Ketevan Goguadze, Natia Rukhadze, George Gotsadze

    The poster was presented in the session – Lessons learned in the implementation of HIV testing strategies for IDUs.

    Another poster addressed issues around late diagnoses for HIV care. The National HIV/AIDS database for 2000-2010 was analysed and characteristics of high risk groups for late diagnosis in Georgia were identified. Authors: Ketevan Goguadze, Ivdity Chikovani, Natia Rukhadze, George Gotsadze

    The posters can be seen at the HIV in Europe web site:

    Low testing uptake and their determinants among IDUs in Georgia

    High risk groups for late HIV diagnosis in Georgia

  • Contributing to publishing the paper: Circus monkeys or change agents? Civil society advocacy for HIV/AIDS in adverse policy environments

    Curatio International Foundation has contributed to publishing the paper that explores the factors enabling and undermining civil society efforts to advocate for policy reforms relating to HIV/AIDS and illicit drugs in three countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine. The paper was published on the world’s leading scientific papers’ source Sciencedirect.com in the rubrics: Social Science and Medicine.

    The paper looks at political contexts and explores how the civil society actors’ strengths and weaknesses inhibit or enable advocacy for policy change – issues that are not well understood in relation to specific policy areas such as HIV/AIDS, or particular regions of the world where national policies are believed to be major drivers of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The study is based on in-depth interviews with representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) (n = 49) and national level informants including government and development partners (n = 22).

    Development partners and government tend to construct CSOs as service providers rather than advocates. While some advocacy was tolerated by governments, CSO participation in the policy process was, ultimately, perceived to be tokenistic. This was because there are financial interests in maintaining prohibitionist legislation: efforts to change punitive laws directed at the behaviors of minority groups such as injecting drug users have had limited impact.

    Read the full paper online or download PDF.

  • National Center for Biotechnology Information published CIF’s scientific paper on Unsafe injection and sexual risk behavior among injecting drug users in Georgia

    In August 2011, National Center for Biotechnology Information published CIF’s scientific paper on Unsafe injection and sexual risk behavior among injecting drug users in Georgia.

    The paper describes the prevalence and correlates of unsafe drug injecting and sexual behaviors among IDUs recruited across five cities in Georgia in 2009. IDUs were administered a questionnaire collecting information on demographics, drug use, sexual behaviors, and HIV testing behaviors. Correlates of risky injecting and sexual behaviors were determined using logistic regression. Of 1,127 IDUs, the majority (98.7%) were men, and the median duration of injecting drugs was 7 years. Unsafe injecting behavior at last injection was reported by 51.9% of IDUs, while 16.8% reported both unsafe injecting behavior and not using condoms with last occasional and/or commercial partner.

    Read the article at PubMed, National Center for Biotechnology Information’s web site