WHO opens centre for hepatitis elimination at Georgia’s Disease Control institution
The new addition will enable Georgian health authorities to develop, monitor and strengthen diagnostic laboratory capabilities and share successful experiences in the country’s hepatitis elimination and testing strategies, the Ministry said. Photo from the Georgian Health Ministry's Facebook.
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The World Health Organisation has unveiled its Collaborating Centre on Viral Hepatitis Elimination at Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control, with the move enabling the country to develop laboratory capacity and share its success in eliminating the disease , the Georgian Health Ministry announced on Tuesday.
The new addition will enable Georgian health authorities to develop, monitor and strengthen diagnostic laboratory capabilities and share successful experiences in the country’s hepatitis elimination and testing strategies, the Ministry said.
Photo from the Georgian Health Ministry's Facebook
Addressing guests at the opening event, Health Minister Zurab Azarashvili said the WHO’s decision on opening the centre was a “recognition of the significant success” of the state programme and represented “strong support” of international partners.
Azarashvili also mentioned universal access to viral hepatitis diagnosis and treatment had “significantly reduced the burden” of the disease in Georgia.
Photo from the Georgian Health Ministry's Facebook
Georgia launched a large-scale Hepatitis C Elimination Programme in 2015, in partnership with the American company Gilead.
The latest report by the NCDC said around 45,000 people had undergone medical treatment for the illness in Georgia, with a 98 percent success rate in treatment.
Georgia’s progress in eliminating hepatitis C was in focus of health minister Zurab Azarashvili’s address to an event at the United Nations general assembly on Tuesday, the Georgian health ministry said.
The diagnostic tests, which are necessary to enroll in Georgia's Hepatitis C elimination programme, will be available for free. Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze recently said that the diagnostic tests cost about 140–360 GEL.
The programme to eliminate Hepatitis C is expanding in Georgia. In addition to medical institutions, screening will now also available at Public Service Halls.
Around 45,000 people have gone through medical treatment for Hepatitis C in Georgia, 98 percent of which were cured, the head of Georgia’s National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze said.
The Georgian Government will launch a new programme for the elimination of Hepatitis B this year, Tengiz Tsertsvadze, the head of the Infectious Diseases and AIDS Centre, revealed in an interview with the news agency InterPressNews on Tuesday.