U.S. government supports fight against tuberculosis in Georgia
Georgia, Tbilisi, March 22 / Trend N. Kirtskhalia /
Goodwill Ambassador for the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Europe and the first lady of Georgia Sandra Elizabeth Roelofs, U.S. Ambassador in Georgia Richard Norland, Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs David Sergeenko and Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance Sozar Subari are participating at an event dedicated to World Tuberculosis Day in Tbilisi.
As Trend was informed by the U.S. Embassy in Georgia on Friday, in 2003-2007 the U.S. government provided Georgia with $7.17 million for the prevention of tuberculosis. Implemented activities have shown remarkable results in different pilot districts.
The current Tuberculosis Prevention Programme (TPP) of USAID started in 2011 with $4.4 million allocated to the project. The purpose of the project is clinical care improvement, support of the national tuberculosis control programme, overcoming critical challenges and improvement of TB control measures in the health system of Georgia, including multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) control.
Around 4500 new tuberculosis cases are recorded in Georgia every year with a particularly high prevalence of multidrug resistant tuberculosis being observed in Georgia. The situation is aggravated by the fact that 26 per cent of patients with MDR TB do not complete their treatment.