As key components of its national laboratory network, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) maintains two Zonal Diagnostic Laboratories (ZDLs) in the West Georgia regions of Imereti and Adjara. Each operates within an administrative Division of NCDC, as described below.

Imereti
The Imereti Division serves as a primary platform for surveillance and control of especially dangerous infections, as well as other communicable and non-communicable diseases in West Georgia. The Imereti Division’s ZDL is a BSL-2 facility, which operates in accordance with approved Georgian and international protocols and regulations.

The mission of the Imereti Division includes the study of communicable and non-communicable diseases of public health concern and their risk factors in West Georgia; implementation of laboratory research-based surveillance; provision of high quality laboratory services to medical service providers and the general population; and development, testing, and import of sustainable systems and sharing of obtained experience. This mission is carried out through a variety of State programs, such as:

The Epidemiological Surveillance State Program: Includes immunization, statistics and epidemiological surveillance. 
The Surveillance and Laboratory Diagnostics Components of the Tuberculosis Control State Program aims to reduce morbidity and mortality caused by tuberculosis and to prevent the spread of infection. Our partners during implementation of this program are physiology departments of medical centers and facilities of the penitentiary system in West Georgia. 
The Maternal and Child Health State Program is designed to reduce the maternal and child mortality level by increasing the availability of patronage and medical care for pregnant women. Under this program, we perform confirmatory tests in pregnant women for Hepatitis B, identify disease through screening tests, as well as facilitate timely vaccination of newborn children.
The Epidemiological Surveillance of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Nosocomial Infections Component of the Epidemiological Surveillance State Program aims to improve epidemiological safety in the country. Under this program, the Imereti Division collaborates with “Imereti Regional Clinical Hospital LTD” and the Academician Tskhakaia Center for Interventional Medicine of West Georgia.
The “Safe Blood” State Program is designed to prevent the spread of transfusion-transmitted infections and establish common standards for safety of blood components throughout Georgia. Under this program, our partners are “Kutaisi Regional Blood Bank LTD” and the Academician Tskhakaia Center for Interventional Medicine of West Georgia.

The Imereti Division also participates in several international projects with multiple international collaborators.
2005 – Present: Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP).
2009: Georgian National Nutriciological Studies (GNNS 2009) with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
2010: “Studies of Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases”, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) – STEPS Surveillance.
2010: “Laboratory Studies of Febrile Tropical Diseases”, a collaborative project with Cairo Reference Laboratory, Egypt. 
2008 – 2010: External Quality Control Program at the Micronutrients Department, U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, “EQUIPP” – Round 4.
2011: Quality Control for Studies of Ioduria in Urine, Eurasia Laboratory Network - Kazakh Academy of Nutrition program, “QUIKK”.
2012: “Biosafety Workshops for Medical Sector of West Georgia, Assessment and Support of Biosafety” with the support of the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC).
2013: Winter school for students of the medical faculty of Akaki Tsereteli State University, training on Especially Dangerous Infections, with the support of the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF). 
2014: Scheduled. Summer school for students of the medical faculty of Akaki Tsereteli State University, training on Especially Dangerous Infections. Will be conducted with the support of the CRDF.

Please contact us for details of these important collaborations.

The Imereti ZDL performs up to 200 different types of microbiology, molecular biology, virology and clinical high technology laboratory tests, serving 70 medical facilities in West Georgia. This is the most comprehensive medical laboratory capability in the region.

Adjara

The Adjara Division’s ZDL is also a BSL-2 facility, and it also maintains a Tuberculosis bacterioscopic laboratory, as well as epidemiology and zooentomology units.

The mission of the Adjara Division includes control of especially dangerous and other communicable diseases in the Adjara region; provision of laboratory services during investigation of disease cases, outbreaks or other public health emergencies; provision of quality laboratory services for surveillance of communicable diseases; and establishment of a laboratory system to international standards.

This mission is carried out through a variety of activities, such as:

Performance of high quality and reliable laboratory tests within its BSL-2 laboratory;
Implementation of biosafety and biosecurity in order to protect laboratory personnel, community, and environment;
Efficient operation of laboratory logistics and quality management services;
Bacteriological, serological, and molecular diagnostics of especially dangerous infections in Adjara - Guria region; 
Provision of bacteriological and serological laboratory services for medical service providers;
Sanitary and microbiological studies at medical and other facilities to ensure safe work environments (contractual cooperation);
Diagnostics of Tuberculosis using bacterioscopic and rapid molecular test methods under the Tuberculosis Control State Program;
Hepatitis B and Syphilis confirmatory tests for target communities under the Maternal and Child Health State Program;
Provision of laboratory studies for the control of nosocomial infections, under the Disease Surveillance State Program;
Cooperation with local public health services under the healthy life-style support project and other target projects;
Implementation of an Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS); and 
Master’s and Ph. D. programs of Batumi University.

Both of these regional ZDL components of the NCDC laboratory network are available for international research and other collaborative activities requiring access to affected populations, local laboratory services, and regional knowledge.