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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Avaliani, Nata
Regional Director
AIHA Caucasus
Tel. (99532) 74 73 61
nata.avaliani@access.sanet.ge

Event Will Focus on 15 Years of Best Practices and Achievements of AIHA's Highly Successful USAID-funded Health Partnerships Program in the Caucasus

Tbilisi, Georgia, and Washington, DC, May 2, 2007—The American International Health Alliance (AIHA) will host a conference May 2-3, 2007 at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Tbilisi to highlight 15 successful years of healthcare partnerships and related programs in the Caucasus Region, which have been supported by the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). During the event, AIHA will pay tribute to the dedicated volunteers and collaborating organizations that have contributed to this success, giving particular attention to the accomplishments of its most recent partnerships in Azerbaijan and Georgia.

US Ambassador to Georgia John Tefft will join Georgian Minister of Labor, Health, and Social Affairs Vladimer Chipashvili and Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Health Sanan Karimov to kick off the event, providing remarks at an opening ceremony in the hotel conference center at 10:00 a.m. on May 2. More than 70 members of AIHA's current and graduated partnerships from Georgia and Azerbaijan, government officials, and representatives of USAID, other donor agencies, and local and international NGOs working in the region are expected to attend.

The conference will provide an opportunity for international donors and implementing agencies, national ministries of health, and the local governmental and nongovernmental sectors to share best practices and lessons learned, as well as to discuss ideas for future cooperation. It will also feature a graduation ceremony for partners from many of the institutions involved in AIHA's recent programs in the region.

Sessions will highlight not only the accomplishments of individual partnerships, but also the program's overall impact as a vehicle for strengthening health systems in both countries. Plenaries will focus on key health issues affecting Azerbaijan and Georgia with the goal of analyzing national health reform priorities, interventions, and achievements in the two countries. Specific topics include integrated healthcare service delivery models, prevention and control of non-communicable diseases, human resource development, continuous quality improvement and evidence-based practice, effective models of primary and tertiary care, infectious diseases, women's health, and child/adolescent health.

AIHA's program of volunteer-driven, peer-to-peer partnerships has been an important and successful component of USAID's support to healthcare reform efforts in the countries of the Caucasus Region. Since 1992, AIHA has established more than 120 partnerships linking healthcare providers and educators from the United States with counterparts in these regions-including 21 in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia. Each one has played a critical role in building health sector capacity at both the national and regional levels.

Created in 1992 by a consortium of major healthcare provider associations andprofessionalmedical education organizations, AIHA establishes and manages programs and twinning partnerships between health-related institutions in the United States and their counterparts in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, and the Caribbean. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), funded by the American people, provides economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries to provide a better future for all. For more information about AIHA, visit our Web site at www.aiha.com.

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