Carl Hartzell met with WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Henri Kluge, during Kluge's visit to Georgia
EU Ambassador to Georgia, Carl Hartzell met World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri Kluge, during Dr Kluge’s official five-day visit to Georgia.
The meeting aimed at discussion of the current status of the EU support to the county’s healthcare system in the time of Covid-19 pandemic, as well as further developments and perspectives of cooperation with the WHO. Video statements and meeting materials are available here.
“An important part of the European Union’s efforts to support Georgia during this pandemic, is the direct support we are providing to the Georgian health sector. In this field, we have provided funding to WHO to deliver over 2 million pieces of medical equipment to laboratories and hospitals in Georgia, - said EU Ambassador to Georgia, Carl Hartzell. - In addition, WHO is providing training to healthcare workers as well as to other high-risk groups. We are now looking forward to see another large shipment of healthcare assistance arriving shortly. We are also discussing with the WHO ways to support vaccine deployment and vaccination efforts. This will be challenging, but we will be working hard through different channels to make sure that we do as much as we can to help bringing Georgia out of this health crisis.”
“I would like to express my sincere appreciation to EU Ambassador Hartzell, for the strong support to the people of Georgia, the government of Georgia and the World Health Organization to strengthen health in these unprecedented times. We discussed, to strengthen our collaboration both in this acute phase, including on vaccination, deployment and control of the pandemic, but also looking further, recognizing that health is such an important driver of social cohesion, economic development and ultimately regional security,”- stated Hans Henri Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe after the meeting.
Additional InformationThe European Union, in partnership with WHO has been supporting Georgia’s healthcare system in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic through various initiatives, including:
- Delivering almost 2 million pieces of medical supplies for Georgian laboratory and medical facilities
- Delivering essential supplies for patient care
- Strengthening responders’ skills, including trainings for healthcare professionals by WHO, and access to regional covid-19 expertise;
- Increasing public compliance with health measures
The EU and Team Europe have mobilized around GEL 1.5 billion of new and reallocated assistance to help Georgia deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost 2/3 of this amount is grants, the remaining are loans at favourable interest rates. That is one of the highest levels of EU assistance per capita to any country in the world and demonstrates the EU’s strong solidarity with Georgia at this time of unprecedented crisis.
The information was communicated by the EU Delagation to Georgia.
