About · The Founder

Prof. Giorgi Pkhakadze

MD, MPH, PhD · WHO Expert · Member, UN Independent Accountability Panel · Founder, ASF · Chair, PHIG · Editor-in-Chief, GMJ

Independent Accountability Panel — United Nations

Prof. Pkhakadze served as a member of the UN Independent Accountability Panel (IAP) for the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016–2021), appointed by the UN Secretary-General. As IAP member, he championed independent accreditation of health facilities as a non-negotiable foundation for quality care — a conviction that directly shaped the founding of ASF in 2020.

Read the IAP Report →

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Championing Accreditation in Georgia — 2014 to 2023

Georgia’s journey toward mandatory healthcare accreditation did not begin with a government decree. It began in 2014, when Prof. Pkhakadze was Deputy CEO at Evex Medical Corporation — Georgia’s largest private healthcare network. At the time, independent accreditation was essentially unknown in the Georgian health system. No national framework existed. No international body operated in the country.

From inside Evex, Prof. Pkhakadze initiated the first structured quality advocacy: introducing accreditation standards across hospital facilities and, in parallel, engaging health ministry officials, professional associations and civil society to make the case that independent quality assessment was not a luxury but a practical necessity for patient safety.

Left: ASF expert team, Georgia · Right: Monthly monitoring visit, 2025

Through PHIG — the Public Health Institute of Georgia — this work became a formal national programme. By 2021–2022, over 50 healthcare facilities across Georgia had entered ASF/PHIG accreditation agreements. The first four hospitals completed the full process and earned accreditation — a first in the country’s modern healthcare history.

This evidence base, built over eight years, contributed to a fundamental shift in national policy. In January 2023, the Georgian Ministry of Health issued Ministerial Order No. 4/ნ, making international accreditation a legal requirement for hospitals participating in the universal health coverage programme. Seven international accreditation bodies entered the Georgian market following the Order.

The journey from one internal quality initiative in 2014 to a national mandatory framework in 2023 reflects Prof. Pkhakadze’s conviction that accreditation must be accessible and built for every health system. His 2026 analysis — What Does Hospital Accreditation Really Cost?, published in GMJ — documents the structural barriers he witnessed firsthand. Read the article →

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Patient and Family Councils

In parallel with the accreditation work, Prof. Pkhakadze established Patient and Family Councils at accredited clinics across Georgia — giving patients a structured voice in the quality improvement cycle. Councils meet quarterly, receive facility accreditation reports, and submit feedback that feeds directly into the next assessment cycle.

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Career Highlights

• Founder & President, Accréditation Sans Frontières (ASF), Paris — est. 2020
• Chair, Public Health Institute of Georgia (PHIG) — since 2003
• Editor-in-Chief, Georgian Medical Journal (GMJ, gmj.ge) — open access, 21 databases
• Head, School of Public Health, David Tvildiani Medical University (DTMU) — since 2007
• Secretary/Treasurer, UEMS Section of Public Health, Brussels
• WHO Expert, Special Initiative for Health and Migration, Geneva
• Deputy CEO, Evex Medical Corporation — strategy, development & quality (leading to Georgia accreditation advocacy from 2014)
• Principal public health adviser to the Prime Minister of Georgia during COVID-19 (2020–2022)
• Global Fund Technical Review Panel · UNODC Myanmar · UNFPA · UNHCR · UNRWA · UNICEF — 25+ countries
• MPH, Tribhuvan University · PhD, University of Madras (poverty, migration and HIV)

Championing Accreditation in Georgia — 2014 to 2022

Georgia’s journey toward mandatory healthcare accreditation did not begin with a government decree. It began in 2014, inside Evex Medical Corporation — Georgia’s largest private healthcare network — where Prof. Pkhakadze served as Deputy CEO responsible for strategy, development and quality of care.

At the time, accreditation was largely unknown in the Georgian healthcare system. No national framework existed. No international body operated in the country. Prof. Pkhakadze began the internal work of introducing accreditation standards across Evex’s facilities — and simultaneously initiated a broader advocacy effort: engaging health ministry officials, hospital directors, professional associations and civil society to make the case that independent accreditation was not a luxury for wealthy health systems but a practical tool for patient safety everywhere.

Left: ASF expert team, Georgia · Right: Monthly monitoring visit, 2025

Through PHIG — the Public Health Institute of Georgia, which he chairs — Prof. Pkhakadze formalised this work into a structured programme. By 2021 and 2022, over 50 healthcare facilities across Georgia had signed agreements with ASF or PHIG to begin the accreditation preparation process. This represented the first time a significant number of Georgian hospitals and clinics had voluntarily committed to an independent external quality framework.

Four hospitals completed the full process and earned accreditation — a first in the country’s modern healthcare history. The evidence base built through this work was presented to government, contributing to a fundamental shift in national policy: in January 2023, the Georgian Ministry of Health issued Ministerial Order No. 4/ნ, making international accreditation a legal requirement for hospitals participating in the universal health coverage programme. Seven international accreditation bodies entered the Georgian market following the Order.

The journey from a single internal quality initiative in 2014 to a national mandatory framework in 2023 — and the founding of ASF in Paris in 2020 as the international vehicle for this work — reflects Prof. Pkhakadze’s conviction that accreditation must be accessible, evidence-based, and built for health systems at every income level. His 2026 GMJ analysis of accreditation costs across 13 international bodies documents what he saw firsthand in Georgia: that the existing system excludes precisely the countries that need it most.