Dental prevention and treatment program for children from socially vulnerable groups "We give children smiles"
SUBMITTED FROM:
METLEN Energy & Metals
METLEN Energy & Metals is a global industrial and energy company covering two business Sectors: Energy and Metallurgy. The Company is strategically positioned at the forefront of the energy transition as an integrated utility, while already established as a reference point for competitive green metallurgy at the European and global level. It has a consolidated turnover and EBITDA of €6.35 billion and €823 million, respectively, and employs more than 5,442 direct and indirect employees in Greece and abroad.
MYTILINEOS has always supported the right of children to access basic quality health services and does so through the responsible actions it chooses each time to support and implement. Meeting dental needs has a high cost and financially weak families can not afford it, leaving children without proper dental care, which can seriously affect their health both in childhood and later. The goal of MYTILINEOS, is its contribution to the protection of children's oral hygiene by providing through the program dental intervention, re-examination of each child as well as preventive dental care through proper information.
Target Audience
The program concerns children of socially vulnerable groups who come from the Social Services of Municipalities, Public Benefit Institutions and non-profit organizations of the Prefecture of Attica.
Duration
12 months duration
(Started in April 2019 and completed in March 2020)
Description
MYTILINEOS, taking into account the high cost of dental needs of children aged 6 to 18 years that financially weak families can not cover, implemented the program "We Give Child Smiles" of 12 months in collaboration with the Urban Non-Profit Company "Mission" ANTH. In particular, the initiative offered the opportunity to the children of vulnerable groups after their referral to dentists and in properly equipped clinics, to receive a complete and integrated treatment, which included a wide range of dental interventions, supporting dental prevention and treatment services. Beneficiaries received additional information leaflets on basic knowledge and practice practices necessary for good oral hygiene.
A total of 1,201 dental procedures were performed with the aim of both treatment and preventive interventions, while receiving information leaflets from the dentists about the oral hygiene of both the children and their parents / guardians / companions.
Of the 450 children examined in the diagnostic dental examinations, 388 - 86% - needed dental interventions. The children who participated in the program had a double benefit: on the one hand, they treated their dental needs, which without treatment could cause them greater problems in oral health, but also effects on their health in general, on the other hand, through preventive dental procedures, they received basic knowledge and trigger for the adoption of practices that lead to proper oral hygiene.
MYTILINEOS, proceeded to determine and analyze the social value of the program, through the Social Return On Investment (SROI) methodology, which provides a framework for measuring and calculating the broader socio-economic value produced and measures the results of an action based on the experience of the stakeholders themselves. Specifically, according to the specific analysis, the total investment for the program "We Give Children Smiles", produced a social value of € 479,019.90, with a SROI return index equal to 7.58: 1. This means that for every 1 euro invested in this program, 7.58 euros of social value were produced.
Most of the social value is created by the direct beneficiaries of the intervention who are children and partly by their families with a total rate of 93.26%.
When comparing the social impacts created by the main target group of the intervention, the following is observed:
Improves children's physical health by 43.60%,
boosts self-confidence and improves mental health by 23.57%,
social and family relations are strengthened by 18.20% and
a proper care program is now maintained by 14.63%.
It is not important that children also feel more responsible for themselves, they changed daily eating habits, more frequent brushing of teeth during the day, which allows to avoid more serious health problems in the future, stating 78.6% of them, quite satisfied with the effective implementation of the program. The influence that the program had on the social workers, caregivers and employees is also remarkable, as according to the study 90% of them gained professional empowerment as well as personal satisfaction.
Initiative Location
Prefecture of Attica
Working with Organization
MYTILINEOS, collaborated directly with the Non-Profit Company "APOSTOLI Anthropos", which collaborated with the following organizations for the implementation of the program:
Municipal Social Services (Municipality of Agios Dimitrios, Municipality of Elliniko-Argyroupolis, Municipality of Paleo Faliro)
Public Benefit Institutions (Hadjikyriakeio Child Protection Foundation, Agricultural & Aik. Hatzikonsta Foundation - Youth Care, Christian Home "Ag. Anna", Child Protection Foundation)
Public Non-Profit Organizations (Charitable Association "Friends of the Child", Caritas Hellas, Medical Intervention (Medin) - Hostel "Estia", Medical Intervention (Medin) - Hostel "Anatoli")
The goal of the company is the development of synergies with social organizations and the implementation of programs, contributing in practice to the 17 Global Sustainable Development Goals. With the implementation of this initiative, MYTILINEOS, has chosen to highlight and support once again the right of children to access health services, contributing significantly to the achievement of Global Objective 3 "Good Health and Prosperity".
At the same time, the application of the SROI methodology is applied by the company in basic social programs that it implements: a) to determine in economic terms their impact on society and their effectiveness but also b) to give potential investors the information they need on the value of its social investments, an element that is increasingly taken into account in the process of their investment decisions.
