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L. Sakvarelidze National Center of Disease Control and Public Health of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, with support of the United Nations Children’s fund held
A Scientific Conference
dedicated to the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week
The officials of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Parliamentary Committee of Health and Social Affairs, Sakvarelidze National Center of Disease Control and Public Health, UNICEF, WHO and other international organizations, representatives of medical society and government and non-government organizations as well as experts of the field attended the conference.
Annually, every October an International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week takes place at the initiative of World Health Organization and Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint. This year the international lead poisoning prevention week of action will take place from 20 to 26 October 2019 with a particular focus on eliminating lead paint. The week was founded by the USA Senate in 1999. Many organizations hold various education events during the week.
The week aims at:
Raising awareness on lead poisoning;
Drawing attention of countries and partners to join efforts to prevent lead poisoning in children;
The countries, at the state level to take measures to eliminate lead paints by means of relevant regulatory mechanisms.
In 2018 MICS was conducted in Georgia with support of UNICEF. Within the framework of MICS, the National Statistics Office of Georgia, in cooperation with L. Sakvarelidze National Center of Disease Control and Public Health of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs and with support of UNICEF conducted lead testing in blood of children aged 2-7.
According to the results of the survey, 41 per cent of children have blood lead levels greater than or equal to 5 micrograms per decilitre (µg/dL), 16 per cent of children have blood lead levels of greater than or equal to 10 micrograms per decilitre (µg/dL) and 25 per cent of children have blood lead levels between 5 - 10 μg/dL.
To respond to the results of MICS, in line with the decree No. 869 of April 19, 2019 of the Government of Georgia on Early Detection and Management Measures of Lead Toxic Effect on Children, the component of Biomonitoring of Lead Prevalence in Blood, encompassing various tests, has been carried out since July 30 2019 within the framework of the state program Early Detection and Screening of Diseases .