Tbilisi City Hall increases budget for children’s autism treatment programme

Tbilisi City Hall is increasing the number of beneficiaries of the Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) programme for children with the autism spectrum disorder, Mayor Kakha Kaladze announced on Tuesday.

With a 6 million GEL ($1.9mln/€1.7mln) budget for beneficiaries and service providers, the programme will now reach 1,545 children and adolescents, the Mayor said in the announcement.

Starting in April, one additional service provider centre will also be added to the programme, bringing the total number of provider facilities to eight.

• Tbilisi City Hall to fund 230 more children with autism

The Tbilisi Mayor also noted the age of adults involved in the programme had increased from 14 to 18 in 2018, with 4,800 GEL ($1,538/€1,393) allocated for each beneficiary annually from the City Hall budget. The city body financed 20 sessions of complex therapy, as defined by a multidisciplinary team, for the patients.

Tbilisi City Hall launched the programme offering free treatment to children suffering from autism in Georgia in 2015, increasing the number of beneficiaries by 230 in 2020.