Ministry of Health Meets with US CDC Representatives on Hep C

This week, David Sergeenko, Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Protection met with representatives of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The new ministry is a combination of the former Ministry of Labor, Health, and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation, and Refugees of Georgia.

Francisco Averhoff, Associate Director for Global Health in the Division of Viral Hepatitis (DVH) at the CDC, called Georgia’s efforts an example to other countries in the fight against Hepatitis C worldwide.

The working meeting discussed the course of Georgia’s Hepatitis C program and planned changes. One innovation is the decentralization project, which means that in every municipality of Georgia, at least one institution will be involved in the program and full diagnostic and beneficiary services will be offered.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister Maia Lagvilava and Amiran Gamkrelidze, Director General of the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC), Georgia’s main public health institution.

The health initiative Georgia without Hepatitis C was launched in April 2015, when the Government of Georgia and American biotechnology company Gilead signed a memorandum of understanding. The project helps reduce and prevent cases of Hepatitis C in Georgia. Treatment is free of charge for all citizens of Georgia.

98% of the total of 45,000 Hepatitis C cases in Georgia have been cured, after taking part in the state-initiated Hepatitis C Elimination Program, with the help of the United States.

By Samantha Guthrie

Photo: Ministry of IDPs from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Protection

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