CIVIL SOCIETY: 276 PRACTICES
Mission ANTHROPOS is a Greek nonprofit, Non Governmental Organisation, founded in 2010 with the aim to provide free and without discrimination medical support to vulnerable people, who do not have access to the NHS.
Read more: www.missionanthropos.com
The program offers vaccination coverage to infants and children with no access to public health services. In this context, vaccinations are organized and carried out on a regular basis until the vaccination needs of each child included in the program will be fully met.
The program addresses infants’ and children’s vaccination needs, which cannot be satisfied through public health services, because:
A) they do not have a National Security Number and consequently their parents cannot address the public services for the prescription of their vaccines
B) the time they were born their parents had already lost their social security and as a result they are also deprived of insurance coverage,
C) albeit having a National Security Number or a Destitute Certificate, they cannot find the necessary vaccines available in the hospital pharmacies,
D) their parents are migrants or refugees and therefore they are not fully covered by the framework for health services.
The program started in July 2012 and as of today continues to support children without access to the National Health System by meeting their vaccination needs. The program is expected to be completed by the end of December 2017 and Mission ANTHROPOS will undertake the implementation of new programs in order to meet the current needs of the Greek society.
The priority of the program “Emvolia-zoume: children without insurance, not without protection” is the complete vaccination – as set by the National Vaccination Program (NVP) - of Greek, migrant or refugee children, whose families are financially weak or without social security.
Since the beginning of the program in July 2012 till today, infants and children of destitute, financially weak and without insurance families who do not have access to public health services, are offered their needed vaccination for free. Every two months children’s needs are reassessed and they are offered their repetitive doses of vaccination until they fully complete their vaccination schedule.
During the implementation of the program “Emvolia-zoume: children without insurance, not without protection” from July 2012 and up to December 2017, 5.699 children of Greek, migrant and refugee families have been vaccinated with a total of 19.069 multivalent vaccines, protecting them from 42.531 diseases.
In detail:
In 2015, 1.614 children were vaccinated with 3.947 multivalent vaccines.
In 2016, 1.628 children were vaccinated with 3.779 multivalent vaccines.
The children included in the program have participated in 1 to 10 vaccination actions depending on their needs since the ultimate goal of the program is to comprehensively meet their vaccination needs.
To date, the program has quite an extensive geographical reach as its actions take place in 7 prefectures across the country. The program is implemented in the prefectures of Attica, Imathia, Thessaloniki, Korinthia, Xanthi, Chalkidiki and in the island of Chios.
The program is implemented in cooperation with the following 41 organizations:
The program is supported by one (1) full time administration officer who is responsible for its implementation.
During its implementation 53 pediatricians as well as 8 nurses and 14 other individuals have participated as volunteers in the program.
1) The program has earned the trust of important charitable institutions thanks to its consistent, continuous and effective implementation. As a result, it has secured funding for 5 consecutive years (from July 2012 to date). More specifically the program has been funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the Bodossaki Foundation, the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, the non-profit Foundation Desmos in collaboration with Paul & Alexandra Canellopoulos Foundation and donations from individuals. At the same time, the program has been supported by the Aegean Airlines company.
2) Within the five (5) years of program’s implementation, the organization has substantially expanded its network of collaborating actors. At present the partner entities are 26 municipalities, the Public Health Department of the Athens General Chidlren’s Hospital “Panagioti & Aglaia Kyriakou”, 13 NGOs as well as the Holy Metropolis of Neapolis & Stavroupolis.
3) To date, the successful implementation of the program as well as the constant support it has received, confirms the transparency and effectiveness of the organization’s actions, encourages new collaborations, reinforces the loyalty of the staff and the volunteers, guaranteeing in that way not only the continuation of the program but also the planning and implementation of more programs and actions. In particular, within the framework of the implementation of the program “Emvolia-zoume: children without insurance, not without protection”, the organization identified the deficiency in the protection of financially weak or without insurance individuals, who have medical/pharmaceutical needs and was urged to create the other main program of the organization called “Stiri-zoume: Medical and Pharmaceutical care for all” as well as other programs that will be launched in 2018.
The most important benefit for the organization is of moral nature and involves the continuous fulfillment of its fundamental goal which is the protection of vulnerable people’s health and the promotion of their decent living.
