Subject: Georgian League Against Epilepsy
From: Sofia Kasradze <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Cc: Alla Guekht <[email-masked]>, Samuel Wiebe <[email-masked]>, "Dr. Eugen Trinka" <[email-masked]>, Natela Okujava <[email-masked]>, Nana Tatishvili <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 2021 08:17:43 +0000

Dear Mrs Tamar Gabunia,

On behalf of the
Georgian Chapter of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) let me
inform you in November 2020, the World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted resolution
WHA73.10, which calls for the development of an Intersectoral Global Action Plan (IGAP) on Epilepsy and Other Neurological Disorders. This resolution
provides us with a unique opportunity to place epilepsy at the top of the
agenda (Please see attached file of a copy of the WHO Discussion Paper and the
WHA73.10 Resolution).

Once adopted by
the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2022, IGAP will provide a framework to
support service planning and funding for care and treatment, and a means to
tackle stigma, exclusion and discriminatory legislation through intersectoral
action.

The WHO
Secretariat has issued a consultation discussion paper that will be used as the
basis for the creation of IGAP (Please see:
https://www.who.int/news-room/articles-detail/consultation-on-discussion-paper-on-global-action-plan-on-epilepsy-and-other-neurological-
disorders).

The WHO
Secretariat is seeking comments from governments, civil society, UN partners,
academia, and non-state actors on the discussion paper by April 10, 2021. These
comments will be critical to the shaping of the IGAP project.

ILAE will
provide comments directly on behalf of all departments, and is also working on
a joint submission with the International Bureau of Epilepsy (IBE), the World
Federation of Neurology (WFN) and the International Child Neurology Association
(ICNA).

So we urgently need
the support from the Georgian Ministry of Health in submitting comments on the
Discussion Paper to support our areas of concern.

To help you please
see attached documents:

A background paper which explains
the four main concerns (Comments
on the discussion),

A template letter that you could
use/adapt to forward your comments directly to WHO (Suggested text for
use),

A copy of the WHO Discussion Paper
and the WHA73.10 Resolution for your ease of reference.

We hope that the MoH
of Georgia and personally You show your usual kindness to help people with epilepsy
and timely submit your remarks to the WHO,
directly to:

[email-masked]

[email-masked]

Dr Ren Minghui, Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases:
[email-masked]

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to
contact me –

Prof. Sofia Kasradze – President, Georgian Chapter of the
ILA: [email-masked]

or any of

Prof.  Sam Wiebe (ILAE President): [email-masked]

Prof.  Alla
Guecht    (ILAE Vice President):  [email-masked]

Prof.  Eugen Trinka (Chair, ILAE/ILAE-Europe):  [email-masked]

Thank you in advance for your time and support.

With best regards

Sofia Kasradze, MD

Ass. Prof., Caucasus International University

Director, Institute of Neurology and Neuropsychology (INN),

President , Georgian League Against Epilepsy (GLAE)

83/11, Vazha-Pshavela ave., 0186, Tbilisi, Georgia

Tel:        +(995 32) 2912 947

Tel/Fax: +(995 32) 2958 972

E-mail: [email-masked]  [email-masked]