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Nani Kavlashvili

Tbilisi State Medical University, Georgia

Presentation Title:

Medical staff's understanding of infant nutrition legislation in various regions of Georgia

Abstract

In 1999, the "Law on Protection and Promotion of Breastfeeding and Regulation of Artificial Feeding" was passed by the Georgian parliament. Training and a law-related informational campaign was conducted in the early 2000s. Since 2010 no activities done in this direction.
The objective of our study was to ascertain the extent to which medical personnel are knowledgeable about the BF and Georgian Law. 
We conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate the knowledge of medical staff in 4 distinct regions of Georgia. The questionnaire inquired about the law, including whether the respondent was aware of its existence, adoption date, scope, the rights and responsibilities of medical professionals, and what constitutes a violation. 215 personnel completed the surveys in full; of them, 16.3% (35) were neonatologists, 11.6% (25) OB/GYNs, 33.5% (72) primary care physicians, 27.9% (60) nurses, and 10.7% (23) midwives.
The results showed that while 52% (112) of the participants could recall the existence of laws, fewer than half (42.8%) were aware of its content. Only 13% (3) of midwives and 13.3% (8) of nurses had some legal knowledge, indicating that both groups lack sufficient legal expertise. 72% (18) of OB/GYNs, 88.6% (31) of neonatologists, and 72.2% (52) of PHC physicians are aware that laws exist. Physicians are either unaware (34.1%; n=45)) or have a poor comprehension (65.9) of their duties, the specifics of legal infractions, and the potential consequences. The majority of PHC doctors (66.7%; n=48) and neonatologists (71.4%; n=25) report working in some capacity with infant formula distribution companies. 57% of maternity hospitals receive formula as a gift from these companies. They do not understand that this is illegal.
We came to the conclusion that Georgia's BF law is ineffective and that the government should keep a careful eye on it while also educating medical professionals about it.

Biography

Nani Kavlashvili has completed his PHD at the age of 30 years from Tbilisi State Medical University, Georgia. She is the associate professor at the department of international faculty of medicine and stomatology; coordinator of pediatric clerkship at American MD program at Tbilisi State Medical University, Georgia. She works as pediatrician at M. Isahvili Children’s Central Hospital. Her field of interest is child development, immunization, nutrition, quality of life, developmental disorders. She is co-author of national protocols on diagnosis and management of different diseases. She was main expert of Normative Act Enforcement Control in regards to the Law on Protection and Facilitation of Breastfeeding, Use of Artificial Food, funded by Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD). She is and local expert of Ministry of health of Georgia. She is an Authorization and Accreditation Expert at the National Center for Educational Quality Development. She is member of National committee of Immunization safety. She has about 90 publications that have been cited over 99 times, and his publication h-index is 7, i10-index-6.