HHS Secretary Meets with Delegation from the Republic of Georgia

HHS Secretary Michael O. Leavitt, Deputy Secretary Alex M. Azar II, Special Assistant to the Secretary for International Affairs, William R. Steiger, Ph.D. and Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral John O. Agwunobi meet with the Honorable Petre Tsiskarishvili, Minister of Agriculture, Georgia, (farthest), the Honorable Giorgi Tsereteli, Chairman of the Committee for Health Care and Social Issues in the Georgian Parliament, and the Honorable Varlam Mosidze, Deputy Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, Georgia (opposite the Deputy Secretary)

February 5, 2007 – A delegation of Government Ministers from the Republic of Georgia met with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Michael O. Leavitt to explore areas of cooperation on health care and health security.  Attending the meeting were the Georgian Minister of Agriculture, the Honorable Petre Tsiskarishvili; the Deputy Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, the Honorable Varlam Mosidze; the Chairman of the Committee for Health Care and Social Issues in the Georgian Parliament, the Honorable Giorgi Tsereteli; and the Ambassador of Georgia to the United States of America, the Honorable Vasil Sikharulizde.  In December 2006, Secretary Leavitt invited Minister Tsiskarishvili and Deputy Minister Mosidze to visit Washington, D.C., to discuss a number of topics, including plans for the joint Georgia-United States Central Reference Laboratory, which the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is currently helping to build in Tbilisi, Georgia. 

During the meeting, Secretary Leavitt and his guests discussed the challenges and opportunities that face Georgia in health.  He assured the Ministers that the U.S. Government values a close working relationship with the Government of Georgia, and that HHS would like to continue its work to strengthen collaboration between the two countries.  The Secretary expressed the willingness of the Department to provide technical assistance to the Government of Georgia to ensure the proposed laboratory and animal-disease-surveillance/detection programs are well-managed. 

In September 2006, HHS/CDC awarded the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of Georgia the first of five possible years of grant funding in the amount of $375,000 for surveillance and response to avian and pandemic influenza by national health authorities.  Broadly, the grant will cover the three Pillars of the HHS Pandemic Influenza Operational Plan, which include preparedness and communication, surveillance and detection, and response and containment.

Earlier in their visit to the United States, the Georgian delegation met with experts from the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including the agency’s Coordinating Office for Global Health, the Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases, and the Coordinating Center for Health Promotion.  While in Atlanta, the delegation discussed, among other issues, pandemic-influenza preparedness, the HHS/CDC Field Epidemiology Laboratory Training Program and laboratory biosafety and biosecurity. 

Last revised: October 11, 2007