Bilateral cooperation between the United States and Georgia in the development of public health and biomedical, fundamental and applied sciences dates back to the 1990s.
The enormous technical and financial support of the United States allowed Georgian scientists to share international knowledge and experience through study and exchange visits; hundreds of research projects that served the sustainability of the country's health and bioscientific potential were funded by US government and non-governmental organizations, leading American universities and the private sector.
The Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs and the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention have been cooperating with American organizations and universities for more than 20 years, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Defense Agency (DTRA/DoD), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its affiliated agencies: Fogarty International Center, NIIAD, NCI). Dozens of scientific studies and several scholarships have been funded by CRDF Global, BTEP, and ISTC programs. The Center collaborates with the Walter Reed Army Research Institute (WRAIR); the Washington Institute for Health Indicators and Assessment (IHME); Bloomberg Philanthropies, Global Healing, the National Institute for Hearing Assessment and Management in the United States; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Florida, Maryland, Emory, Johns Hopkins, ch. With the Universities of Arizona.

Of these organizations, cooperation with the CDC deserves special attention. In 1996, the CDC's structural and functional model was used in the creation of the Georgian National Center for Disease Control. To study infectious diseases and train Georgian epidemiologists, the CDC began its initial activities in Georgia in the mid-1990s, and in 2009 opened a representative office in Georgia, which conducted a number of important studies and programs for timely detection, response, and surveillance. More than 70 epidemiologists, health professionals, and veterinarians in Georgia have received professional training through the CDC's Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP).

The current mission of the CDC in Georgia is to enhance epidemic detection and response capabilities at the institutional level through close collaboration with the Ministry of Refugees, Occupied Labor, Health and Social Protection and the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health.

The CDC provides technical support on various health risk factors through surveillance research and human resource development. CDC's activities in Georgia include the following areas: hepatitis, influenza, zoonosis, respiratory diseases, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis, nutrition, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.

The Center also plays a key role in the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), which has been providing technical and financial support to Georgia's health and agriculture sectors for more than 15 years under the Joint U.S. Biological Engagement Program (CBEP). The above-mentioned cooperation is based on the principle of "Unified Health", which serves to eliminate biological risks to human and animal health, aimed at developing and maintaining standards of epidemiological and biological safety. With the support of DTRA, a unified network of laboratories and surveillance was established in the country, which includes regional surveillance laboratories, and since 2013 it has been centralized under the auspices of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health. Lugar is a Level 3 Public Biosafety Reference Laboratory. DTRA technical and financial support for the construction of the Lugar Center, human resource training (biosafety, entomology, laboratory diagnostics, epidemiology, large-scale BMJ project for clinicians), laboratory infrastructure and development activities are invaluable. The Lugar Center is a state institution for epidemiological and biological safety and surveillance of the country, on the basis of which a number of studies are conducted with the involvement of researchers from international and neighboring countries.; The Lugar Center provides laboratory supervision of public health programs, participates in the laboratory systems package of the US Global Health Safety Program (GHSA); a national repository has been created on the basis of the Lugar Center, where all biologically dangerous crops of the country are collected, etc.



Topics for the bilateral meeting with DTRA:

To expand the potential of biomedical fundamental and applied sciences; Development of scientific diplomacy (creation of innovative products through applied bioscientific projects; development of the human genome)

Assistance in obtaining international accreditation of Lugar Center laboratories
 
Creation of a regional training center based on the DCJEC/ Lugar center for training and study tours of representatives from different countries.
 
Prepare and respond to public health risks
Establishment and equipping of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
 
As part of the development of electronic information technologies
Unified Electronic Disease Monitoring (EIDSS) and
Development, maintenance and transfer of Laboratory Management Information Systems (LIMS)
 
Expansion of the bio-surveillance network for the Silk Road Countries (BNSR)

Educational component support: introduced for clinical medicine specialists throughout Georgia

Maintaining the sustainability of the distance learning platform based on the British Medical Journal (BMJ); Supporting training for regional medical professionals and laboratory staff based on DCJET.



U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Washington Office Management