Dear Sarah
Many thanks for your e-mail. It is great to hear that CDC colleagues can make themselves available to support us with COVID related challenges. It would be helpful if I could discuss the format of our collaboration with Dr. Geleishvili here locally and we could then plan based on what can be feasible.
I could have a conference call with her to discuss this week.
With kind regards and look forward.
პატივისცემით,
თამარ გაბუნია
მინისტრის პირველი მოადგილე
Sincerely,
Tamar Gabunia, MD, MPH
First Deputy Minister
From: Hedges, Sarah (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) [mailto:vow7@cdc.gov]
Sent: 14 April, 2020 03:13
To: Tamar Gabunia
Cc: Geleishvili, Marika (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP)
Subject: RE: COVID Response- CDC TA
Dear Dr. Tamar,
I hope you and your family are safe and healthy.
As the Ambassador and Juan mentioned, CDC is ready and available to help. I have reached out to CDC’s Emergency Operations Center to request COVID-19 experts to discuss the following topics:
(1) Infection control at selected “Fever Clinics/COVID centers”
(2) strengthening capacity of the ministry/NCDC in epid-surveillance (overall planning, mobilizing local field epidemiologists, elaborating guidelines/protocols for epid response, etc.)
(3) lab capacity building
For the format of this consultation, would you like to have CDC SMEs available to discuss these topics with the public health advisory committee using a video conference line? Would you prefer to meet with each CDC SME group separately (a call each for IPC, surveillance, and laboratory)?
Please let me know when the best dates and times are for this call so I can coordinate with the SME groups.
Best regards,
Sarah
From: Tamar Gabunia <tgabunia@moh.gov.ge>
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2020 8:40 AM
To: Aparicio, Juan J (Tbilisi) <AparicioJJ@state.gov>
Cc: Hedges, Sarah (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) <vow7@cdc.gov>; Geleishvili, Marika (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) <ivu9@cdc.gov>
Subject: RE: COVID Response- CDC TA
Dear Juan
Many thanks for your positive feedback. Much appreciated! We look forward to our cooperation with CDC on COVID response.
პატივისცემით,
თამარ გაბუნია
მინისტრის პირველი მოადგილე
Sincerely,
Tamar Gabunia, MD, MPH
First Deputy Minister
From: Aparicio, Juan J (Tbilisi) [mailto:AparicioJJ@state.gov]
Sent: 13 April, 2020 16:37
To: Tamar Gabunia <tgabunia@moh.gov.ge>
Cc: Hedges, Sarah <vow7@cdc.gov>; Geleishvili, Marika (CDC Tbilisi) <ivu9@cdc.gov>
Subject: Re: COVID Response- CDC TA
Dr. Gabunia,
Thank you very much for this message. As I mentioned earlier, the Ambassador has made it clear that we should do all we can to support your work in this time. My CDC colleague Sarah Hedges should be in touch shortly on steps to move forward with your request.
Best,
Juan José Aparicio | Political Officer
United States Embassy Tbilisi, Georgia
(O): +995 32 227 76 29 | (M) +995 598 080 254
Email: AparicioJJ@state.gov
From: Tamar Gabunia <tgabunia@moh.gov.ge>
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2020 6:02 PM
To: Aparicio, Juan J (Tbilisi) <AparicioJJ@state.gov>
Cc: Hedges, Sarah <vow7@cdc.gov>; Geleishvili, Marika (CDC Tbilisi) <ivu9@cdc.gov>
Subject: COVID Response- CDC TA
Dear Juan
First of all I would like to express my gratitude for the conference call this afternoon to discuss COVID19 response and possible assistance from US CDC. As mentioned the areas of particular importance are (1) Infection control at selected “Fever Clinics/COVID centers” (2) strengthening capacity of the ministry/NCDC in epid-surveillance ( overall planning, mobilizing local field epidemiologists, elaborating guidelines/protocols for epid response, lab capacity building etc.). There is a public health advisory group established at the ministry which provides recommendations to the government on effective response strategies and needed actions. As we’ve mentioned during the call, it would be helpful to have US CDC experts engaged with us in these discussions. It would also be a big help to have the CDC local office staff ( Dr. Geleishvili and other colleagues) working in the ministerial building, if acceptable. Most of the ministerial staff currently work from home. We can provide a safe space to host the CDC local office.
Thanks again and look forward to hearing back on the above points.
პატივისცემით,
თამარ გაბუნია
მინისტრის პირველი მოადგილე
Sincerely,
Tamar Gabunia, MD, MPH
First Deputy Minister
From: Geleishvili, Marika (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) [mailto:ivu9@cdc.gov]
Sent: 10 April, 2020 13:43
To: Tamar Gabunia <tgabunia@moh.gov.ge>
Cc: Aparicio, Juan J (Tbilisi) <AparicioJJ@state.gov>; Hedges, Sarah (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) <vow7@cdc.gov>
Subject: FW: Urgent: I need your approval to attend a meeting at MoH
Dear Tamar,
I have received a call from Alisa inviting to join the meeting at 3 pm at MoH. As you are aware, I need to get approval from the Embassy FO to attend any face-to-face meeting. Below you can see the email, asking for more justification why the meeting should be in person.
Sorry for disturbing you during such a busy time.
Regards,
Marika
Marika (Mariam) Geleishvili
Senior Advisor, US CDC-South Caucasus Office
Tbilisi, Georgia
E-mail: ivu9@cdc.gov
Mobile: (+995) 591 916 599
From: Slack, Anne (Tbilisi) <SlackA@state.gov>
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2020 1:22 PM
To: Geleishvili, Marika (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) <ivu9@cdc.gov>; Aparicio, Juan J (Tbilisi) <AparicioJJ@state.gov>; Hedges, Sarah (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) <vow7@cdc.gov>
Subject: RE: Urgent: I need your approval to attend a meeting at MoH
Dear Colleagues,
Not even our Ambassador is holding face to face meetings. They’re all by remote means.
We’d need to know more details as to why a face to face meeting is needed and discuss it with at least Liz and maybe the DCM.
Regards, Anne
On April 10, 2020 at 13:19:29 GMT+4, Geleishvili, Marika (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) <ivu9@cdc.gov> wrote:
Thanks Juan,
I don’t think I’m invited to attend that meeting – at least I was not told that they need me for the meeting with the Ambassador. May be they want me after the meeting?
Sorry,
Marika
Marika (Mariam) Geleishvili
Senior Advisor, US CDC-South Caucasus Office
Tbilisi, Georgia
E-mail: ivu9@cdc.gov
Mobile: (+995) 591 916 599
From: Aparicio, Juan J (Tbilisi) <AparicioJJ@state.gov>
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2020 1:16 PM
To: Geleishvili, Marika (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) <ivu9@cdc.gov>; Hedges, Sarah (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) <vow7@cdc.gov>; Slack, Anne (Tbilisi) <SlackA@state.gov>
Subject: Re: Urgent: I need your approval to attend a meeting at MoH
Marika,
The Minister of Health will be meeting the Ambassador via Webex today at 1400. I hesitate to approve a meeting with minister because, protocol-wise, she should meet with the Front Office.
Anne, thoughts?
Best,
Juan
---
Sent from Workspace ONE BoxerOn April 10, 2020 at 13:12:24 GMT+4, Geleishvili, Marika (CDC/DDPHSIS/CGH/DGHP) <ivu9@cdc.gov> wrote:
Sorry for the urgent notification. Right now I received call from the Dr. Tamar Gabunia’a assistant, asking to attend a meeting at MoH. The meeting is planned with Dr. Gabunia and the Ministers Ekaterine Tikaradze. I’m not aware what is the agenda. The meeting is scheduled at 3 pm.
I’d like to make it clear: I’m aware that I shouldn’t make any promises or share any information from our side.
Please, let me know how to proceed.
Marika
Marika (Mariam) Geleishvili
Senior Advisor, US CDC-South Caucasus Office
Tbilisi, Georgia
E-mail: ivu9@cdc.gov
Mobile: (+995) 591 916 599