Dear Tamar,

Attached please find a provisional program and scope for a webinar on Diabetic retinopathy screening hosted by the WHO Regional Office for Europe on Thursday, 15 April (12:00-13:30 CET/14:00-15:30 TBS). This event is being organized for policymakers, public health leaders and senior clinicians involved in planning, designing and implementing diabetic retinopathy screening programs in Georgia and Ukraine. It takes place within the framework of an initiative co-funded by the Government of Denmark to strengthen national capacities to accelerate progress in the implementation of WHO NCD “best buys” for better management of CVD and diabetes through an integrated primary health care approach.

As indicated in the program, the Ambassador of Denmark to Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia will provide opening remarks in a panel chaired by Nino Berdzuli. Speakers from Georgia and Ukraine will also present an overview of the status of diabetic retinopathy screening in their respective countries. In 2020, WHO worked with Irina Karosanidze and the Family Medicine Training Centre to assess the feasibility of applying a toolkit to  assess the quality of hypertension and diabetes care in selected PHC facilities in Tbilisi and inform the alignment of the revised scope of PHC care in NCD management. Following on that project, this event is intended to kick off follow-on work intended to support the integration of priority NCDs into the PHC package of services. Irina Karosanidze has suggested that Nato Shengelia present the situation in Georgia based on assessment completed in 2020.

I am reaching out to confirm the suggested speaker with you and also request that the Ministry identify key individuals to participate in this meeting. The Regional Office suggests 15-20 people from each country, drawn from Ministry of Health, NHA, NCDC and relevant clinical institutions. Simultaneous translation into Georgian will be provided.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Allison