The Chair of the Health Care and Social Issues Committee, Dimitri Khundadze met with the UNICEF Representative in Georgia, Ghassan Khalil to discuss the implementation of a new project related to the launch of a child nutrition program in schools aiming at reduction of child poverty.

D. Khundadze noted that the Committee has a rich tradition of working with UNICEF which is confirmed with jointly implemented programs. As the Chair of the Committee added, the UNICEF projects and initiatives have been positively estimated so far.

"Amid the recent allegations of our opponents claiming the hunger strike of 77,000 children and the annual death of 300 underaged, today’s meeting was mainly aimed at public awareness. This data comes from between 2009-2011. As of now, I can assure you that no children die of hunger in the country, yet malnutrition and child poverty remain a problem for sure. That's what we talked about. We raised the issue of developing a school nutrition program, where we will be assisted by UNICEF. They believe that this will serve as one of the best means to reduce child poverty, so we will continue to work in this direction”, - D. Khundadze remarked.

As the Committee Chair added, the program will be initially piloted in a number of schools to cover the whole country with the lapse of time.