A three-year project that began in September 2003, the Healthy Women in Georgia (HWG) Program - implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute Inc., in collaboration with Save the Children, Orthos, and Curatio International Foundation, and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) - seeks to improve women's health in Georgia. The HWG Program targets selected facilities at regional and district levels, and ten ambulatories at the primary health care level, in the Imereti region. The program will develop "Women-Friendly" health care information, counseling and services in facilities and communities. District and ambulatory health providers, pharmacists and "sakrebulo" (village council) leadership will be engaged in the program.

"Parents' Schools" for patients and clients will be established in three district-level health care facilities, to provide information and counseling in formal courses. The HWG Program will also establish peer education among adolescents in schools and community gathering places, and will reach out to women in communities who do not attend health facilities. Antenatal, maternity, post-partum, and post-abortion care will be improved in facilities and communities.

Georgia has one of the highest abortion rates in the world. The HWG Program will strengthen access to and availability and quality of modern methods of contraception for family planning, as safe and effective alternatives to abortion.