U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland joined First Lady Sandra Roloefs, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Health Related UN Millennium Development Goals in the European Region (Chairperson of CCM), Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs David Sergeenko, and Minister of Corrections Sozar Subari to observe World TB Day on March 22 in Tbilisi.

There are over 6,000 TB patients currently registered in Georgia and approximately 4,500 new cases of TB disease are diagnosed each year in the country. Georgia is one of the 27 countries with the highest burden of multidrug resistance (MDR-TB) in the world. This situation is further complicated by the fact that 26% of MDR-TB patients in Georgia do not complete the course of treatment.

From 2003-2007, the U.S. Government, through USAID, funded $7.17 million in TB prevention activities in Georgia. The activities resulted in an impressive increase in treatment success rates in pilot geographic areas. The current USAID TB Prevention Program (TPP) began in 2011 as a $4.4 million four-year nationwide activity. TPP works to improve clinical services, strengthen the National TB Program’s capacity to address critical challenges, serve hard-to-reach populations, improve TB response in the evolving Georgian health care system, including multi-drug resistant TB, and infection control.