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The Christmas of the hungry and homeless

24 December 2012 / 16:12:39  GRReporter
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In one year alone, 372,000 kg of food products were collected, and to date 337,050 kg of basic necessities have been distributed. Every day, Apostles distributes 10,000 portions of food to 5,000 people who live in poverty. Especially for large families, in 2012, 3,000 packages of food were distributed to 777 families.

Konstantinos Dimtsas

Living conditions are worsening continuously across the country, and, a few days ago, representatives of Apostles visited the town of Kilkis, where they gave 750 kg of food.

Doctors Without Borders to start working in Greece

Apostolos Veizis, Head of Doctors Without Borders Programmes: "For Doctors Without Borders, the main criterion for intervention and activity includes urgent needs of people and lack of access to medical care. And in Greece, an increasing number of people are being excluded from the health care system and are living in inadequate conditions.

Apostolos Veizis

According to calculations, but also according to estimates by experts in the field of public health, the biggest gaps are now being recorded in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases that are associated with living conditions and social exclusion, such as tuberculosis, AIDS, malaria.

Therefore, we will start working at the centre of Athens, as our goals include medical needs of the most vulnerable groups and addressing the "diseases of poverty", in collaboration with already existing initiatives of various government authorities and civil society.

Much of the population affected by the crisis is focused in the centre of Athens and is in danger of infectious diseases.

Specific populations at risk of these diseases are groups of high mobility or behaviour problems. These groups need special treatment and care, through a tailored approach of diagnosis and treatment.

''The purpose of Doctors Without Borders is to provide homeless, drug addicts, uninsured Greeks and immigrants access to medical services for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as tuberculosis, AIDS, malaria and others."

"Civil society should support the homeless"

Ada Alamanou, Programme Manager of a programme for support of the homeless with the NGO Klimaka:

"What is worrying is the fact that the identity of people who have serious problems with their survival is changing. These are individuals who never envisaged the possibility of ending up there. Many of them have even lost their homes. Their main needs are no longer just finding food, but also shelter, medical care, and only then a job. The majority of people who are living near the poverty line, and many of those who are living under it, are not indifferent to the future, they are active citizens. At the NGO Klimaka, we provide food to more than 200 people, and our greatest needs include warm clothes, jackets, heating appliances, sanitary materials, etc.

The most optimistic thing we are observing is that solidarity is now being felt more and more often, and it is filling the "holes" left by government action. Civil society is perhaps the most important answer to all these problems."

Tags: economic crisis homeless NGOs
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