Tbilisi, Georgia – On June 7, 2016, U.S. Ambassador Ian Kelly and Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs Davit Sergeenko attended an event to mark the successful completion of USAID’s TB Prevention Project.

The U. S. government is a leader in the global fight against TB and the largest bilateral donor worldwide. In countries with USG-supported TB programs, TB prevalence has decreased by 42 percent and TB-related mortality by 43 percent over the past decade.

USAID has funded TB prevention activities in Georgia since 2003. The TB Prevention Project began in 2011 and was a $4.6 million, 5-year nationwide project. The project strengthened the capacity of the National TB Program and of local civil society organizations to prevent and treat TB; collaborated with the Ministry of Health to launch a patient-based electronic Health Management Information System; and worked at a policy level to support a National TB Strategy for 2016-2020, as well as a TB control bill that was approved by Parliament.

Event participants included: Chairperson of the Parliament’s Health and Social Affairs Committee Dimitri Khundadze, Director of Georgia’s National Center for Disease Control and Public Health Amiran Gamkrelidze, Director of Georgia's National Center for TB and Lung Disease Zaza Avaliani, as well as representatives from the World Health Organization, the University Research Corporation (URC), the Global Fund, the local medical community, and civil society.