Georgian GPs to Follow Sanford University Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy

The National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC), hosted a conference in order to introduce the rational application of Antimicrobial Therapy.

The Georgian version of the 45th edition of the Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy, an internationally acclaimed publication used daily by American General Practitioners (GPs) was presented at the event.

From today Georgian therapists will also take instruction from the book, which has a long history.

At the conference, Dr. Elizabeth Bouvet and Dr. Malvina Javakhadze addressed the European perspective on the use of antimicrobial therapy, as well as the instruction for implementation of the Sanford Guide for Georgian GPs.

The event was organized by the Ministry of Health and the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, in collaboration with the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children (GAHSC), and was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Health, NCDC, Global Alliance and Georgia’s regional hospital practitioners.

Zaza Sopromadze, Deputy Minister of Health, considers Antimicrobial Resistance a global issue: “We are trying to share the Western experience with our GPs and give them adequate recommendations and instructions. The National Coordination Council of Antimicrobial Resistance has been created in Georgia, in the format of which a national strategy has been prepared, that, first of all, means rationalizing pharmaceutical therapy. This is vital in light of the antimicrobial resistance-related infections which are already overloading the health care system- such infections are difficult to treat and this results in certain costs”.

President of international consulting company Global Alliance, Jean-Elie Malkin, discussed the overall healthcare conditions in Georgia and outlined that Antimicrobial Resistance is the way forward to rationalizing the use of antibiotics: “We at the Global Alliance support the authorities of Georgia, the Ministry of Health, and the Minister himself in the ongoing process of improving the whole health care system. The initiative taken by the Ministry and NCDC of translating the Sanford Guide on the use of antibiotics is fully in line with what we are doing. We, too, aim to improve the health system, to improve the quality of services, to improve the efficiency of services and to improve the cost effectiveness of services,” Jean-Elie Malkin said.

Antimicrobial Resistance is the global challenge of the 21st century, which has surpassed state boundaries, expanded to all parts of the world and become pandemic. The rational therapy is on the one hand an important intervention to treat infectious diseases and, on the other, it is a major instrument to tackling antibiotic resistance.

Keti Didebulidze