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Category: NEWS

  • Customer Satisfaction Research Report on Corporate Health Insurance Released

    Curatio International Foundation releases report on Customer Satisfaction Research on Corporate Health Insurance. The report was supported by International Health Budget Monitoring Initiative of the Open Society Institute. The research prepared by the three experts of CIF (Marine Egutia, Natia Rukhadze, Tamar Gotsadze) looks at trends of insurance market, shares of insurance types and customer satisfaction. Georgian insurance market is young, though the rapid growth is apparent. Data prompted by the National Bank of Georgia proved 33 percent growth in 2009 compared with the year 2008. The Health insurance is the most popular and occupies 68.6 percent of market structure.

    The share of the insurance companies has increased since 2007 following the health financing reform launched by the Government of Georgia. The private insurance companies succeeded to attract substantial amount of state finances. Insurance of state program beneficiaries by insurance companies is being implemented in the framework of state assignments. According to 2008 year data, 18 percent of Georgian population is insured by the state. Along with this, there is a slow pace of corporate insurance development which is used by employees of public, private and non-governmental sectors. Retail insurance comprises 1 percent of market. 76 percent of the population is exposed to health risks.

    The study aims to explore satisfaction of corporate clients of insurance companies and develops recommendations for further polishing and improvement of corporate insurance services. The research revealed that there is a high share/percent of not insured employees in corporate insurance schemes. Financial accessibility is one of the most noteworthy barriers for joining the insurance scheme. Not all citizens having the will to use insurance have a guaranteed opportunity to get corporate insurance.

    Insurance product seems less attractive for those having the will to get insured. Insurance contracts are imperfect that often becomes the reason for customer dissatisfaction and finally leads to changes of services and vendors. Procedures for contract extension and update are complicated and have a negative impact on insured. Variety and multitude of insurance packages further complicates the process of vendor choice and decision making.

    At the end the report prompts possible ways for problem solving and offers valuable recommendations on how to make corporate health insurance better and raise customer satisfaction.

    Follow the link to view the full version of the report, policy brief and presentation.

  • Statement for the Media-The Study on Injected Drug Users Completed

    Only 1/4 of Intravenous Drug Users are getting tested for HIV, putting their wife’s and girlfriends and the rest of the Georgian population at risk for a widening epidemic

    Curatio International Foundation, a Georgian think tank, says “motivating IDUS to get tested is the key to prevention.”

    According to a recent study by Curatio International Foundation and Public Union Bemoni, the Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) can put their regular sex partners at risk of HIV infection by having unprotected sex with them.

    The study, which was conducted in 2009 in five different locations in Georgia (Tbilisi, Batumi, Zugdidi, Telavi and Gori) found that only 25% of intravenous drug users have been ever tested for HIV through their lifetime -even though the testing is free and available in their communities.

    The IDUs especially in Tbilisi are well educated and half are married. The majority of them started drug injection in their late teens. The most frequently injected drug by Tbilisi IDUs is subutex, while Batumi IDUs favor heroin.

    The IDUs are quite knowledgeable on HIV transmission routes, however they still commit behaviors that pose risk to their sexual or needle partners.

    About half of married IDUs have occasional sex partners and every second of them did not use condoms with such partners. This is particularly unconscionable because in most of cases IDUs do not use condoms with their wives, girlfriends.

    Highest HIV rates and risky behavior were found among Batumi IDUs compared to other cities.

    “Low uptake of testing services indicates that a large proportion of IDUs is unaware of their HIV status, which leads to high risk behaviors,” says Ketevan Goguadze, project manager, “Motivating IDUs to get tested is the most effective way to prevent spread this infection.”

    The study was undertaken in 2009 under the Global Fund supported project implemented by Curatio International Foundation, a local think tank working on the health care issues, and its partner organizations.

  • National and subnational HIV/AIDS coordination: are global health initiatives closing the gap between intent and practice?

    The research article prepared by the international experts and representatives of Curatio International Foundation was published in the international journal Globalization and Health web site. The article is available at US National Library of Medicine as well.

    The paper identifies residual national and subnational obstacles to effective coordination and optimal use of funds by focal GHIs, which these GHIs, other donors and country partners need to collectively address.

    Follow the link to view the abstract and the full version of the article.

  • Assessment of HIV/AIDS Surveillance System Pilot is Already Available

    Curatio International Foundation has provided Assessment of HIV/AIDS surveillance system pilot. The operations research of HIV/AIDS surveillance pilot in Georgia was conducted in the framework of the project “Establishment of evidence-base for national HIV/AIDS program by strengthening the HIV/AIDS surveillance system in the country” funded by the Global Fund, as a preparatory stage for revision of HIV/AIDS surveillance national guidelines. The operations research aims to assess the performance of a new design of HIV/AIDS routine and sentinel surveillance system, developed in the frames of the project in pilot regions of Tbilisi and Adjara; to reveal the factors hindering effective performance of the system, standard operational procedures and limitations of registration, notification, and reporting forms and to develop recommendations for their revision for countrywide implementation of the new design of the system.Full version of the report is available in English and Georgian languages.

    Get full report (English version)
    Get full report (Georgian version)

  • Findings of Behavior Surveillance Surveys (BSS) Endorsed

    Curatio International Foundation in collaboration with Infectious Diseases, AIDS and Clinical Immunology Research Center and Public Union Bemoni and association Tanadgoma has carried out Behavior Surveillance Surveys with biomarker component among Injecting Drug Users (IDUs), Commercial Sex Workers (CSWs), and Prisoners. As a result of endeavor 1100 IDUs from capital Tbilisi plus 4 regional cities, 210 prisoners, and 280 CSWs have been interviewed.

    The project is funded by the Global Fund and implemented by the Curatio International Foundation in partnership with Georgian Infectious diseases, AIDS and Clinical Immunology Research Center, Public Union “Bemoni” and Association “Tanadgoma”.

    Follow the link to view the full versions of the documents.

  • Internship at Curatio International Foundation is challenging for John Hopkins University Students

    Throughout 2 weeks Curatio International Foundation will be hosting interns from Public Health School at John Hopkins University Sudit Ranade and Mollie Werlieb.

    Having the opportunity to undertake internship at Curatio International Foundation for the first ever time, students are challenged and motivated to help the organization in analyzing the data from the Bio Behavioral Surveillance Survey for injection drug users and write the article for scientific journal submission.

    Mollie Werlieb has an extensive NGO experience both in US and in former Soviet Union, specifically in Russia and Ukraine. Her particular interest lies in behavioral determinants of health and healthy life style. She seeks and hopes to learn more about health status of people in Georgia, explore people’s attitudes and ideas about health. Working on Injection Drug Users project is especially challenging since she hopes that they may develop some recommendations for effective intervention and have impact in elaborating adequate policy.

    Sudit Ranade is the family physician in Canada and is doing his Masters in Public Health with the focus on international health and child health. This internship opportunity poses him the challenge to learn how organizations like CIF deal with large volumes of data and where do all these data go afterwards. “We are working to analyze all the data. We want the report to be applicable to increasing scientific knowledge but also have practical applications. It is challenging to see how organizations use this kind of data to potentially impact the world’s scenario”.

  • The Art of Crafting Policy Briefs

    High quality research evidence is one of the critical preconditions for employing the evidence by policy makers into policy making. However, high quality research evidence itself is not sufficient; it must be communicated in ways that make it compelling.

    On February 5-6 alliance of Georgian NGOs attended the training in designing policy briefs. The course took place in the framework of the Strengthening Capacity of Civil Society for Promoting Research Evidence into Policy Development in Georgia and was led by Ketevan Chkhatarashvili, the President of Curatio International Foundation.

    The course on policy briefs is designed to enhance participant’s skills in writing policy brief in a way that will enable them to adapt/summarize a more reader-friendly research and to disseminate research findings. Research evidence is one important consideration in the decision-making process. However, one common complaint from policy makers is that they have little time to read full research reports. Therefore, well structured, concise and easy to read policy brief is an important tool for researchers to effectively communicate research findings to policy makers.

    The course gave the clear insight of why is the policy brief important, who can be the target audience of the policy brief and how the messages should be conveyed in order to influence the reader and trigger the interest of the policy maker to choose a particular policy alternative or course of action in a current policy debate.

    Participants discussed some common and well known policy briefs and practiced in criticizing as well as finding positive sides. At the final session participants were requested to choose the policy topic and draft a policy brief in accordance with the knowledge obtained.

    “This course was very timely. The topic is very relevant and lecurer led it exactly to the point. I found training extremely interactive and full of energy. It will really help organizations to acquire the knowledge and technique of writing policy briefs and thus raise the quality and effectiveness of their communication with policy makers”, noted Tamar Karosanidze, Director of Transparency International.

    “There is a rich experience, knowledge and information accumulated over many years on public policy issues, although we find it hard to put together all these components and use them effectively. Training provided by CIF was timely and precisely responded to this need”- Nikoloz Loladze, Director of United Georgia Professional Network said.

    Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) and Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF) support this effort.

  • Representatives of CIF Visit 2010 Global Health Information Forum

    On January 28-30, Ms. Keti Goguadze and Ms. Ivdity Chikovani, Project Managers at Curatio International Foundation presented Spot lights of Georgia Health Information System Strengthening at 2010 Global Health Information Forum in Bangkok, Thailand.

    The Global Health Information Forum, hosted by Health Metrics Network (HMN) and the Prince Mahidol Award Conference, with the support of the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation and other partners brought together a range of experts, governments, donor agencies and organizations with a shared interest in Health Information System (HIS) improvement, to renew energy and commitment to investing in and building the capacities of health information systems.Follow the links to obtain further information on Global Health Information Forum 2010 and HMN or view the poster.

  • Training in Evidence Search-Acquisition

    Through implementing the project: Strengthening Capacity of Civil Society for Promoting Research Evidence into Policy Development in Georgia, Curatio International Foundation aims to improve the skills of civil society representatives in developing policies that are a) evidence informed b) tailored to Georgia’s social, economic and cultural context, and c) responsive to public interest.

    CIF intends to contribute to achieving this goal by allying two distinct networks of NGOs (The coalition of Georgian NGOs for “Transparency of Public Finance” and Georgian “Mental Health Coalition”) and strengthening their capacity in delivering evidence into policy process. Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) and Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF) support this effort.

    Knowing that the high quality research evidence is one of the critical preconditions for employing the evidence by policy makers into policy making CIF conducted the training in evidence search-acquisition. The objective of this training module was to enhance the abilities of the partner coalitions to successfully carry out analytical and research work by increasing capacity for accessing national and international sources of evidence (databases, scientific journals, grey literature repositories, governmental reports, internet etc.). The training was designed and provided by Mr.Levan Tsutskiridze, the President of the Association for International Relationships and helped participants to understand from where and how the needed evidence can be obtained; The module placed a special emphasis on provision of an instruction into harnessing the capacities of general and specialized internet search engines, better analysis of the information and more effective utilization of search data for research, informational or analytical purposes.

  • Marking 15th Anniversary

    Curatio International Foundation unveiled the most successful Public Health Management Student on its 15th Years anniversary marking event.

    On December 18, Curatio International Foundation granted the first student of the fellowship program established on the occasion of its 15th anniversary. The lucky student is Ledi Bichikashvili, Public Health Management faculty student at the Tbilisi State Medical University.

    Over 100 guests representing donor organizations, public and private sector, and partners of CIF celebrated successful 15 years together at the Radisson Sas Iveria hotel lounge.

    In welcoming remarks Ketevan Chkhatarashvili, the President of CIF and George Gotsadze, Director highlighted major achievements of the organization and thanked the audience for being thus supporting over all these years. Management of the organization particularly stressed the importance of the fellowship program: “Our work has been directed on the benefits of people. We channel all our resources and committment to improve the lives of children, adults, socially vulnerable. We think that Georgia needs professional public health professionals. We decided to support bachelor students of public health management and further motivate them to become real professionals of the profession they have chosen”- said George Gotsadze.

    “I want to address Curatio International Foundation with the deep sense of gratefulness. This is the greatest initiative ever. When I learned that I became the winner of the fellowship my motivation has increased tenfold compared with the day before. I do realize that I have a huge responsibility towards Curatio International Foundation, my university, course mates and the audience attending here”- said the successful student.

    CIF succeeded to deserve the award itself as well. Alexandre Kvitashvili, on behalf of the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs granted the certificate of recognition to CIF for valuable contributions to successful development of health sector in Georgia.

    “I can freely say that none of the organizations in Georgia has thus influenced the health system reforms in Georgia as Curatio International Foundation’s work”-said he.