Dr. George Gotsadze, Director of the Curatio International Foundation was invited to present findings at PATH about the human health story of the dissolution of Soviet Union, the political and socio-economic transition that has challenged a weak health care system, and the efforts to overcome these obstacles. The event took place at PATH headquarters, Seattle, USA, December 10, 2007.
See presentation.
Natia Rukhadze, presented preliminary research findings of the study “Effects of GFATM on Georgia’s Health System Development” to the global stakeholders. The selected topic for the presentation was “Sustainability of GFATM program supported activities in Georgia”.
The workshop, which was held from 19-23 November 2007 was organized by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and hosted by the RCSI in Dublin.
GHIN is a network of researchers in 21 countries who are working together to explore the influence of global health initiatives for HIV/AIDS on countries health systems. GHIN is co-funded by Irish Aid (Irish Dept of foreign affaires) and DANIDA (Danish Ministry of Foreign Affaires).
The five day Dublin workshop brought together representatives of 15 research teams conducting studies in 15 countries receiving global health initiative funding for HIV/AIDS control. The workshop also included the coordinating teams based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, as well as researchers from four other northern institutions.
One day of the workshop (Thursday) included global stakeholders, and was hosted by Irish Aid. Stakeholders included representatives from the bilateral donors (Irish Aid, DANIDA, DFID and USAID), the World Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, PEPFAR, UNAIDS, WHO and civil society organizations (Open Society Institute and Centre for Global Development). The one-day meeting with stakeholders had the following objectives: a) to disseminate preliminary findings from the first phase of research to stakeholders and colleagues; b) to debate the policy implications of preliminary findings and the needs of stakeholders in relation to 2008 research priorities, advocacy and dissemination.
The Health Utilisation and Expenditure Survey (HUES) was conducted in May/June 2007 and consisted of a nationally representative sample of 3,218 households.
The objectives of the survey were: to estimate household health expenditure and compare this with the Integrated Household Survey (IHS) estimates to provide adjustment factors; to provide information on reported health status, use of services and user satisfaction; and to provide a baseline for reforms in primary health care and sector financing, both nationally and for specific ‘pilot’ regions where additional support is being provided. A second round of the HUES is planned for 2009 and will provide follow-up information in each area.
Yale University announced the selection of the leading Georgian health policy advisor, Ketevan Chkhatarashvili, the president of Curatio International Foundation, an organization which is a pioneer of health care reform throughout the Caucasus, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa, as a 2007 Yale World Fellow.
The Yale World Fellows Program represents a unique initiative among U.S. universities and a core element of Yale’s commitment to be a leading global university. Aiming to build a worldwide network of emerging leaders and to broaden international understanding, the Program conducts a competition each year to select 18 highly accomplished early mid-career men and women from government, business, the media, and civil society organizations representing countries across the world for a 4-month leadership program at Yale. The Yale World Fellows Program has at its core three main goals: to provide advanced global leadership training to emerging leaders from a diverse set of fields and countries, to link these world leaders to each other and to Yale in a tangible way and to expand and deepen international understanding at Yale. The Program selection process is intense: the 18 World Fellows for 2007 were selected from a pool of 970 applicants from around the world. From August to December, the 2007 World Fellows will engage in a specially designed seminar taught by some of Yale’s most eminent faculty; take any of the 3,000 courses offered at the University; participate in weekly dinners with distinguished guest speakers; receive individualized skill-building training; and meet with U.S. and foreign leaders. In addition, all World Fellows, both past and present, are invited to a biennial Return to Yale Forum, where past and current Fellows meet to build a global network of world leaders as well as renew their ties to Yale. The next Forum will take place October 24–27, 2007.
Yale University is located in historic New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701, the University consists of 12 schools: Yale College, the four-year undergraduate school; the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; and 10 professional schools, including the Yale School of Medicine, the Yale Law School, and the Yale School of Music. Yale has a global reputation for training U.S. and world leaders – including four of the last six U.S. presidents.
Dr. George Gotsadze, Director of Curatio International Foundation, traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan during May 16-18, 2007. Dr. Gotsadze was invited within the frame of Primary Health Care (PHC) Strengthening Project in Azerbaijan to contribute to the introductory workshop on National Health Accounts (NHA) organized for the national team in Azerbaijan.
Dr. Gotsadze gave presentation on using NHA data for informing the national policy making process and presented the Georgian experience on introduction and institutionalization of NHA.
See the presentation 1.
See the presentation 2.
CIF consultant, Ketevan Goguadze in April 1-7, 2007 traveled to Armenia. The major purpose of the visit was to provide technical support to the Armenian national working group in order to estimate the costs of the current immunization program; evaluate the financing of the current programme; project resource for the future requirements and financing levels and patterns over the cMYP time period; estimate financing gaps, prepare alternative scenarios of cMYP costing and financing components to reduce the funding gaps and identify the strategies for the improvement of financial sustainability.
Primary Health Care Strengthening Project was implemented during the period of September 2005- September 2007 by a consortium of organizations led by International Medical Corps (IMC) in cooperation with Abt Associates Inc., Curatio International Foundation, and the John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs. The PHC Strengthening Project provided technical assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan (GoAZ) in a collaborative effort to strengthen the country’s primary healthcare system.
The project consisted of four components:
Creating a policy and legal framework that defines primary healthcare and the primary health delivery system;
Increasing public expenditures for the improved health allocation for primary healthcare;
Improving quality of primary healthcare services;
Promoting the idea of personal responsibility for one’s health among individuals and families.
The general objectives of the project were:
Establishing current referral and utilization patterns for the most common health conditions in the population;
Estimating household health expenditures to adjust the findings of quarterly Household Budget Survey (HBS) that was implemented by the State Committee on Statistics (SCS);
Obtaining baseline and impact indicators to monitor and evaluate reforms implemented in PHC (in pilot regions) and in Health Care Financing;
Developing instruments and obtaining primary data (at least for one pilot district) for mapping health utilization and elaborating health system Master Plan in pilot districts;
Providing Government of Azerbaijan with the critical information about population’s self-reported health status and health care utilization, with the purpose of helping the government to formulate or adjust state policies.
The Project concentrated on assisting the GoAZ in the development of major changes in nationwide health policy and financing. Simultaneously, the Project tested critical interventions at the level of individual facilities and communities in selected districts that served as pilot demonstration sites. The Project activities, both on national and district levels, were closely coordinated with the World Bank Project in Health Sector (Health II). Agreement was reached on focusing the Project’s pilot efforts to demonstrate the new PHC financing and organizational models in those pilot districts that were targeted by the World Bank Project. The latter envisions the rationalization of health infrastructure and optimization of human resources in pilot districts as a necessary precondition for significant investments required for modernizing health care delivery system in these districts. Respectively, the Baseline Study envisioned under the Project served as (a) baseline for anticipated World Bank Project interventions and (b) primary data source for health care delivery system rationalization planning (master planning) exercise.
The project was funded by USAID/Caucasus and implemented by Curatio International Foundation (CIF) and Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) in June 2006-April 2007. The key partners were: Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, DPH, NCDC, WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, DTRA, HHS/CDC, MoA, AgVantage. The aim of the project was to assist the Government of Georgia with well-coordinated approach on surveillance, IEC and procurement that would strengthen early warning systems, outbreak investigation, and effective response to a possible pandemic.
The objective of the project was to strengthen surveillance/early warning system, procurement planning, and procurement of commodities to address the immediate need, information, education, communication. One of the major components of the project, surveillance, included following activities: assessment of current practices, needs and system design, development of surveillance standards and protocols, development of guidelines, training of public health workers and medical professionals, provision of ongoing on-the-job technical assistance, dissemination of methods, results and lessons learned. The second component for the project, procurement, it combined the need of immediate assessment in consultation with the Government and major donors/partners and in procurement such as the World Bank and DTRA; procurement and delivery of required commodities; development of a master inventory of all commodities required to support surveillance of pandemic influenza. The third component IEC was implemented through provision of input to the development of the National Communications Strategy; development of essential talking points for spokespersons; workshops with media representatives; roundtables with national and regional officials; development of guidelines for health workers on communication with the public.
Over the project period of June 2006 to April 2007, PATH and CIF closely collaborated with the Government of Georgia and other stakeholders.
Key partners included:
Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs (MoLHSA)
Department of Public Health (DPH) and a network of regional and rayon Centers of (????????)
Public Health (CPH)
National Center for Disease Control and Medical Statistics (NCDC)
World Health Organization/European Region (WHO/EURO) and WHO/Georgia office
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
World Bank (WB)
US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)
Department of Health and Human Services/US Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (HHS/CDC)
Ministry of Agriculture (MoA)
AgVantage Project
The following activities were undertaken within the frame of the project:
Training of public health personnel and health care professionals in the new surveillance procedures and measures to control AI infection in humans;
Development of AI communication guidelines (“talking points” and “message maps”), followed by training for spokespersons and media representatives;
Procurement and delivery of surveillance and laboratory supplies;
Development of an inventory and forecasting tool to strengthen laboratory preparedness and ensure coordination of laboratory supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE).
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.
CIF consultant George Gotsadze was invited by the country office of UNAIDS Ukraine to support the reconstruction of the management component of the Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS Control Project, financed with the loan proceeds from the World Bank. The project has been suspended by the World Bank since April 2006 due to the slow implementation of the project. Three conditions were recommended by the World Bank to the Government for the continuation of the project. The Government had met required conditions and the suspension placed on the project was effectively lifted. Restructuring the project management and developing detailed implementation plan for the period December 2006-June 2007 were two conditions out of three for the Government of Ukraine to tackle with the help of the consultant.