About Georgian Respiratory Association

The Georgian Respiratory Association was established in 2004 with the aim of developing and promoting respiratory medicine in Georgia. Its main activities consist in promoting basic, epidemiological and clinical research in respiratory medicine; producing guidelines on the management of respiratory diseases; promoting continuing medical education for medical specialists and organizing scientific meetings and other events. It has regional branches all over Georgia and has about 400 active members. Funding comes mainly from membership fees and donations from different nongovernmental organizations. The Association has made a significant contribution to the education of doctors in remote parts of the country through the organization of regional meetings held three times a year. It is the first medical association in Georgia to have created national guidelines and provided appropriate training processes. A significant achievement has been the continuing education of doctors in remote parts of the country, through the organization of regional congresses for different specialists, in collaboration with major institutions, research and scientific centers. This allows for the continuous exchange of the latest medical information. It also publishes the Georgian Respiratory Journal, the country’s only medical publication in respiratory medicine. Other achievements are the organization of its first international congress, which provided an opportunity to discuss modern methods of diagnosis and management of different respiratory diseases; the congress has received European accreditation. The Association has also prepared the first national guidelines for respiratory diseases, with appropriate training processes. It collaborates internationally and has begun pilot projects on surveillance of chronic respiratory diseases at primary health-care levels.