Dear Francisco,

Nice to hear from you. It was a pleasure to meet you and Beth.

Next week I have an introductory meeting with CDC team and also with Dr. Tsertsvadze and Dr. Butsashvili. I am planning to have committee meeting after EASL from 16^th of April week.  Health department is working on the communication channels, schemes and plans that should be provided on monthly bases from all involved parties to the Ministry’s Health department for project coordination purposes. On monthly bases we will have the progress reports and also discussion on all related issues and you will be involved as well.

Kind regards,

Dear Dr. Lagvilava,

Thank you for our meetings in Georgia, it was a pleasure for Beth and I to meet you.  First, congratulations! We are delighted that you have been assigned to coordinate and lead this effort under Dr. Sergeenko. Please be assured we are here to support you in any way we can.  I wanted to follow up on a few points that we discussed and agreed:

1.       State Committee: It is important to reinstate the State Committee Meetings immediately and meet regularly, such as monthly, this will greatly improve communication between the Ministry and other partners in the HCV elimination program in Georgia, particularly the clinicians. Irina (see below) can work with you to organize these meetings.

2.       Introductory meeting with the CDC/CDC Foundation team in Georgia. I have advised them that you would like to meet with them and I have asked them to reach to you to arrange this meeting. If you like, they can prepare a brief background on the HCV Elimination Program from 2014 to the present (much is captured in the annual report).  Below are our team in Georgia, who are looking forward to meeting and discussing how they can help and support.

a.       Lia Gvinjilia lgvinjilia@gmail.com: Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator

b.       Tinatin Kuchuloria kuchuloria.tatia@gmail.com: Scientific Coordinator

c.       Irina Tskhomelidze irinkatskhomelidze@gmail.com: Program Coordinator

3.       Decentralization: My understanding is that you will Chair the Decentralization Coordinating Workgroup, Dr. Tengiz Chairs the Primary Healthcare and Hospital Workgroup, and Dr. Butsashvilli Chairs the Harm Reduction Workgroup. As we discussed, Irina is coordinating the workgroups and can work with you to organize monthly meetings and ensure that 6 month implementation plans are created by each Workgroup. Of course, this is critical work towards reaching the HCV elimination goals.  WE think it is important that the workgroups meet urgently, to develop the implementation plans.  Please let us know f there is another person who you will designate as a point of contact for day-to-day work on Decentralization at the Ministry, Irina can work with this person or with you.

4.       Expiring Harvoni: I had a brief discussion with Gilead and they are not upset/concerned about the drugs expiring and are open to the Ministry making a donation to another country. If that is of interest, I recommend that the Ministry contact Gilead soonest to discuss the specifics of the donation. Please let us know if we can assist.

5.       EASL 2018: We are working with Drs. Amiran team to arrange meetings in Paris.

6.       Information Technology (IT): Lia will reach to you to arrange a meeting with you.  This meeting should include Alex T and other Ministry personnel you would like (Eka Adamia has been POC). The goal of this meeting is for you to to clarify the Minister’s expectations around IT. In addition, we discussed improving the existing HCV Elimination Website. Alex is available to work with the team at the Ministry, which you mentioned, to accomplish this. Lia can help coordinate this; if you share the POC, she can start the communication.

7.       TAG: Dates will be 28 – 30 November 2018.  We have draft letters to thank the previous Chair for his service and to invite another Senior CDC Scientist to chair the next meeting. We will send you and Dr. Sergeenko these letters soonest.

8.       Regular Communication: I would like to propose monthly calls with you and your team, Dr. Amiran and his team, and CDC team to update regularly on program and discuss issues, concerns, and solutions. We could begin with monthly meetings, Please let me know and we will follow up with you to coordinate.

Please let me know if I captured everything, any concerns or corrections.  I include Beth, the CDC Country Director in Georgia.  I can ask our team to contact you soonest, or please reach to our team above, Lika, Tatia, and Irina, let us know.  We look forward to working with you in this very exciting program!

Best regards, Francisco (FA)

Francisco Averhoff MD, MPH

CAPT US Public Health Service

Associate Director for Global Health

Division of Viral Hepatitis

National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Road, MS G-37

Atlanta, GA 30333

phone: 404-718-8501

fax: 404-718-8588

e-mail: fma0@cdc.gov