The National HIV/AIDS Surveillance Plan in Georgia was developed by the national working group in the frame of the project funded by The Global Fund- “Establishment of evidence-base for national HIV/AIDS program by strengthening the HIV/AIDS surveillance system in the country”.
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From 2001 to 2006, the government of Georgia and the Partners for Health Reformplus (PHRplus) project collaborated to strengthen two components of the Georgia Health Information System (HIS): the immunization management information system (MIS) and infectious disease surveillance system (IDS). The work was funded by USAID/Caucasus and coordinated by a multidisciplinary expert group of stakeholders. Participating expert group members came from the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, the Department of Public Health, the National Center for Disease Control and Medical Statistics, local Centers of Public Health (CPH), and several international donors (USAID, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization). Implementation was the responsibility of the Georgian nongovernmental organization Curatio International Foundation, subcontracted by PHRplus. View the document.
In May 2006, the USAID/Caucasus Mission awarded PATH $400,000 to strengthen surveillance, information, education, communication (IEC) activities, and procurement planning to address avian influenza (AI) in Georgia. As specified in the proposal, PATH has established a partnership with a Georgian nongovernmental organization, Curatio International Foundation (CIF), to implement this activity. View the document.
Policy Implications of the first Systematic Tracking of Financial Flows for HIV/AIDS in Ukraine is presentation delivered by the nine health care experts in Toronto in August 2006.The presentation looks at background information of HIV/AIDS like prevalance, HIV/Aids statistics, HIV/AIDS spending, finances sources, expenditures by functions, comparison with other countries in the scope of expenditures by functions etc. Authors of the presentation: Yuriy Chechulin, George Gotsadze,Catherine Chanfreau, Liudmila Husak,Vinay Saldanha, Anastasiya Nitsoy, Viktor Galayda,Manjiri Bhawalkar, Tania Dmytraczenko. View the full version of the presentation.
The purpose of this document is to estimate the costs incurred by the government and donors on tuberculosis prevention and treatment in Georgia in 2001-2005. The document does not address private spending of the population on tuberculosis, since there is no reliable information (household surveys) presently available on private household expenditure on the treatment of the disease. Expenditures of the Georgian government and donors on tuberculosis treatment and its prevention in Georgia for the period 2001-2005 were calculated by Curatio International Foundation for project, “Cooperation for the Transformation of Georgian Health Care System” (CoReform) funded by the USAID/Caucasus Mission. View the full version.
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.
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.
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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.
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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”.
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Curatio International Foundation in partnership with UK-Georgia professional Network (UGPN) conducted policy club discussion to increase awareness of the civil society organization regarding the Bill on Changes and Amendments to the Georgian Law on Drugs and Pharmaceutical Activities, which has been passed by the Parliament of Georgia 10th of August, 2009 and is effective from October 15, 2009. The draft Bill has been developed with the technical support of the CIF consultants under the auspices of the USAID funded CoReform project and has been modeled on procedures already in place in Europe. Therefore, the Bill introduces completely new approaches to the drug market regulation procedures in Georgia. The proposed new regulatory environment is expected to simplify drug registration procedures, improve access to safe drugs and promote market competitiveness.
The demand for the Bill has been created by the fact that the share of imported drugs amounts to almost 90% in Georgian drug market, therefore, it became pivotal for GoG to pay special attention to import regulation and apply adequate instruments. For that reason policies relating to drugs and pharmaceuticals have increasingly been in spotlight in 2007 and 2008. The policy club discussion was organized in the framework of the “Strengthening Civil Society Capacity to Promote Research Evidence for Policy Development in Georgia” project aiming at building the skills of civil society organizations on improved provision of the evidence in policy making process. The project is implemented by the Curatio International Foundation with the financial support of Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR) and Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF).
Mr. Vakhtang Megrelishvili the lead CIF expert in 2007-2008, who assisted the GoG in draft Bill development, made a presentation for the civil society organizations covering the following important issues: a)background information; b) why the need for creation of a new regulatory environment for the pharmaceutical market has emerged; c) recommendations provided by the CIF experts to the GoG for improvement for the drug market regulation; d) excepted and rejected by the government recommendations; e) expected impacts of the Bill on the Georgia pharmaceutical market.
The civil society organization expressed their interest and willingness to participate in the Bill execution monitoring process to observe how the Bill will affect pharmaceutical market.