OCHA Situation Report
Georgia
Period: 01 - 15 March 2003


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Feature
EveryChild UK in Georgia

EveryChild UK in Georgia works in partnership with other NGOs and
government agencies to design and implement programmes that enable
children to grow up in a family. The organisation focuses on children in
public care and children at risk of entering institutional care.

Georgia has inherited a childcare system based around state-run children's
institutions. There are currently around 4,000-5,000 children inside these
institutions. The system is quite expensive for the Georgian authorities
and also harmful for children. It is universally acknowledged that
family-based care is the best option for children who are either orphaned
or unable to live with their own families. This is true even when
institutions are well funded and maintained, which unfortunately is not
always case in Georgia.

De-institutionalisation of children in Georgia or ensuring that children
are not deprived of parental care started in 1999, when EveryChild was
invited by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Georgia and the
Ministry of Education (MoE) to help reform children's services by
establishing a range of services for children in institutional care or
were at-risk of entering institutional care. Social work teams were set up
in Tbilisi, Rustavi, Telavi, Kutaisi and Batumi. Social work and childcare
training was provided by international social work specialists from
EveryChild.

Currently EveryChild implements several projects such as
de-institutionalisation of infants, prevention of abandonment, and family
support and foster care. EveryChild works with local and international
NGOs and Georgian ministries to identify, train and recruit families
willing and able to foster or adopt babies and infants who have been
abandoned and currently are in children's institutions. A significant part
of this work concentrates on preventing mothers from abandoning their
babies by offering support services in the latter stages of pregnancy and
raising awareness about alternatives to institutional care. In addition,
the organisation advocates on behalf of vulnerable families and children
in Georgia.

The Georgian Government is committed to finding an alternative solution to
the widespread use of children's institutions. In late 1998, EveryChild
launched a pilot project to demonstrate family-based alternatives to
institutional children care. The first stage focused on Tbilisi, Rustavi
and Telavi. In October 2001, three trained social work teams and systems
were taken over by the MoE. The second phase of the project is now ongoing
and has been replicated in western Georgia, Kutaisi and Batumi.

Family support and foster care for children with special needs addresses
some of the problems of families who have children with disabilities.
Often these families place children in institutions due to the stigma that
Georgian society still attaches to disabilities. Institutionalisation
increases poverty and social problems, and institutional personnel often
lack the skills to care for such children properly. The project aims to
demonstrate the feasibility of transferring institutionalised children
with mental and/or physical disabilities currently back into the community
through reintegration with birth families or fostering.

For more information, please contact Ms. Manana Turmanidze, Country
Director, tel.: 22 43 07, e-mail: mturman@gol.ge


MERLIN SUPPORTS THE NATIONAL TUBERCULOSIS PROGRAMME IN GEORGIA

Following Georgian independence in 1991, a long period of civil unrest and
the subsequent collapse of the country's economy, the health
infrastructure was all but destroyed. Presently, at least 35% of the
population lives below a subsistence level.

Tuberculosis (TB) thrives in such conditions, but it is curable if
diagnosed early and treated appropriately with DOT (Directly Observed
Treatment) according to World Health Organisation (WHO) protocols. Treated
in any other way without proper medical supervision can lead to the
development of drug resistant strains of TB which are less likely, more
complicated and very expensive to cure. The diagnosis and treatment of
non-resistant TB is free in Georgia, so it is every citizen's
responsibility to ensure that they receive the correct treatment before
they develop and spread a more complicated form.

In 2001, MERLIN was invited by the Georgian National TB Programme (NTP) to
help pilot the integration of quality controlled TB diagnosis and
management in a setting of primary and secondary health care structures in
Shida Kartli Region.  With funding secured in 2002 from Jersey Overseas
Aid and with strong support from the NTP, general health and civil
authorities, ICRC, GTZ and Counterpart:

   The TB dispensary and laboratory have been relocated and refurbished in
   the Regional Hospital in Gori to cope with the diagnostic and
   monitoring needs of the population in the region.

   The laboratory has been equipped to basic, efficient diagnostic
   standards based on microscopy for the approximately 300 newly diagnosed
   cases per year.

   The TB cabinets in Khashuri, Kaspi and Kareli, all situated in the
   grounds of the general healthcare facilities, have undergone light
   refurbishment and been supplied with laboratory equipment and
   consumables.

   Core staff of the National Tuberculosis Programme, in both Tbilisi and
   Shida Kartli, have undergone a training of trainers course.

   Laboratory staff from Shida Kartli are currently undergoing training on
   TB diagnostic techniques according to WHO protocols.


Further funding from Jersey Overseas Aid has been received to continue for
another three year period.  Activities will include:

   The equipment and furnishing of a limited number of TB acute-admission
   wards, situated next to the new dispensary.

   The development and dissemination of health education material
   targeting the general public, healthcare staff and patients.

   Training brigades made up of village health staff to improve access to
   patients who are unable to travel to the urban centres for diagnosis
   and treatment.

   The development of simple, cheap, sustainable support mechanisms for
   patients attending daily clinics.

   The monitoring of case management data and the support of quality
   control practices.

   Undertaking anonymous, informed consent HIV surveys among TB patients.


World TB Day is on 24th March so look out for those TB health education
messages.

For more information please contact Annabel Baddeley at
Annabel@merlin.org.uk.

MERLIN is a UK-based charity, providing healthcare for people in crises
and disaster situations around the world. The organisation specialises in
reaching the poorest countries, the most difficult environments and in
complex emergencies, supporting vulnerable people where the local
infrastructure has broken down.


Sectors

Assistance to the Vulnerable

In early of March 2003, the "SOCO" foundation has distributed 1,153 school
textbooks, 9 maps, 6 globes, 10 footballs and basketballs and 440
toothbrushes to 440 school children in three schools in Ozurgeti district,
Guria (Silauri, Dzimiti, Tsianeti). The effort was funded by a Dutch
sponsor.


Local NGO Spotlight

Ordu is a Zugdidi-based NGO. Its first project, "Free Internet Centre for
IDPs", was funded by the United States Embassy in Georgia. Almost a year
ago ORDU launched surveys on the social conditions of 32 IDP communities
in Zugdidi and its outskirts including Anaklia, Orsantia, Kakhati, Ingiri,
Abastumani, Rukhi, Koki, Orulu, Zedaetseri, Ergeta and others. Ordu
especially targets IDP families with children, the elderly and the
disabled. A research center was established within the organisation to
work on data collection and processing. Surveys cover nutrition, social
activity and employment issues. Results are computerised and updated on a
monthly basis. Ordu representatives living in communities are responsible
for the data collection.

Currently the following data on IDPs in Zugdidi region is available for
interested organisations:

1. Availability and utilisation of land resources

2. Area (acreage) of the fertile land

3. Number of farms and their efficiency

4. Status of livestock breeding and its development

5. Analysis of the overall economic situation and efforts to find a way
out of the crisis Availability of economic resources.

6. Economic statistics

7. Population's overall monthly income

8. Calculation per districts of the amount of the locally available food
products and self-consumed food products

9. Analysis of technical services and market

The above information is computerised. A database has been created, as
well as a list identifying 27,000 people and a number of households on the
verge of poverty.


For more information, please contact Mr. Merab Gamsakhurdia at:
merabi_gamsakhurdia@online.com.ua

Produced by OCHA Georgia

For more information, please contact Ms. Maka Esaiashvili, Information
Officer
  Tel/Fax: 995-32-959516
  Tel: 995-32-943163
  e-mail: unocha@unocha.org.ge


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