US will help Georgia in Hepatitis C Elimination
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, March 10
“We, for our part, will always provide technical or any kind of assistance to hold Georgia in implementation of Hepatitis C Elimination Program,” United States Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly stated at the fourth national working meeting of Hepatitis C Elimination Program in Georgia.
The meeting was organized by the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) of the ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, with assistance from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on March 9.
The aim of the meeting was the assessment of the Hepatitis C Elimination Program Action Plan 2016-2020 and analysis of the results of two years of work.
In May 2016, at the World Health Assembly, the governments of 194 countries adopted the first strategy of the viral hepatitis and developed the first global goals.
One of the goals of the strategy is treatment of 8 million people with hepatitis B and C by 2020 and the long-term goal is 90% reduction of new infections and 65% reduction of viral hepatitis mortality by 2030.
The Hepatitis C Elimination Program in Georgia is unique, as it is free and available for all infected citizens of the country.
“The project's implementation process was assessed as very good,” Georgia’s Minister Sergeenko, said after the meeting.
The minister added that such meetings were held since the program was launched, in order to rate the effectiveness, achievements and challenges of the project by international experts.
The health project - Georgia without Hepatitis C - was launched in country in April 2015, when the government of Georgia and an American biotechnology company, Gilead, signed a memorandum of understanding.
The project helps to reduce and prevent Hepatitis C cases in Georgia. The main goal of the project is to stop the disease from being highly contagious. The treatment is free of charge for citizens of Georgia.
