The Hellenic Initiative announces a new grant of $10.000 to Eliza organization. ELIZA – Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a Greek non –profit organization whose exclusive purpose is the protection and care of children who have suffered or run the risk of suffering abuse or neglect, and the only organization  focusing on preschool-age children. Through this grant, THI was the exclusive sponsor of Eliza’s first national conference on the “Nursing Training Program for the treatment of physically abused children”, which was held on the 29th of March in Athens.

Eliza was founded in 2008, and the organization has been standing close to children who are experiencing or are running the risk of abuse ever since. Through its action, Eliza aims to raise awareness concerning child abuse through the training of professionals who come into contact with children, supporting the parents but also by training young children to protect themselves.

Unfortunately, the statistics of child abuse in Greece are indicative of the hard work that needs to be done on the issue. One out of five children has experienced at least one incident of abuse. The issue becomes even more intricate considering that nine out of ten of severe child victimization cases are not recorded by the authorities and consequently no action is taken. The work of Eliza is thus vital in ensuring that medical professionals have the required expertise and awareness on the issue in order to detect and prevent instances of child abuse. Due to the exclusivity with which the organization addresses the problem, there has been significant progress made towards this, and indeed there are reasons to be optimistic.

With the exclusive sponsorship of THI, Eliza was able to conduct a conference aiming at training and informing nurses from major hospitals in Greece regarding child abuse. The role of nurses on this issue is paramount since they are the first professional that comes into contact with the children. Additionally, nurses spend a significant amount of time close to the children and their families and can establish a record to provide important data. The theme of the conference focused on improving the nurses’ expertise, establishing guidelines in treating child abuse cases and utilizing scientific approaches in order to enhance the quality of treatment in hospitals. The conference was carried out in collaboration with the prominent U.S. Universities Yale & Iowa, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health.

Michael Printzos, THI Director of Programming, stated: “In recent years, Greece has been preoccupied with the rejuvenation of our economy and the boosting of entrepreneurship. While it is very important for us to grow economically, it is vastly more important to be vigilant and work towards improving all aspects of our society. Child abuse presents a distinctly cruel aspect of humanity. Supporting an organization such as Eliza, that aims to protect children from such situations and allows them to flourish and fulfill their potential, has been a commitment of The Hellenic Initiative since its inception. We thus remain a dedicated part of Elisa’s organizational “chain” for the protection of children”.

Aphrodite Stathi, Director of Eliza, stated: “No one should feel alone when caring for and trying to protect a young child. Physicians and nurses treat these children, listen to their families and act together via a multidisciplinary approach to activate the necessary procedures for their protection. We would like to deeply thank The Hellenic Initiative for believing in the potential of our initiative and for giving us the opportunity to train for the very first time in Greece, nurses and nursing students into the management of cases where there is suspected child abuse.”