Results of the DIRERAF Project

 

The Institute of Preventive Medicine Environmental and Occupational Health was one of the partners of the three-year long European project "DIRERAF-Development of Public Health Indicators for Reporting Environmental/ Occupational Risks Related to Agriculture and Fishery". The project's outputs and recommendations were presented with great success at a press conference that took place in Athens, on January 14.  Dr. Athena Linos, Associate Professor in Epidemiology, gave the opening speech, as the project's scientific coordinator. The Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, Mr Konstantinos Kiltidis and the Deputy Minister of Health and Social Solidarity, Mr Giorgios Konstantopoulos contributed with short speeches, stressing the importance and the timeliness of the issue. Representatives of several related institutions and organizations, as well as a large audience attended the event, which attracted great interest from the Mass Media and was covered by TV news and numerous newspaper articles both in Athens and Thessaloniki.  The DIRERAF project was co-financed by the Health & Consumer Protection Directorate-General of the European Commission and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The Institute of Preventive Medicine Environmental and Occupational Health along with 10 reputable research institutions from nine European Union Member States implemented the project, which had the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens as its coordinating partner.  The project proposes the development of a reporting system to monitor the health of farmers and fishermen, as well as the environmental risks related to agriculture. This system will allow policy makers to monitor these risks in time and across different countries, assessing and comparing the effectiveness of related policies and practices. The overall objective is for this tool to be incorporated in the existing policies at regional, national and European level, so as to achieve a harmonized strategy for confronting the issues of occupational and environmental risks in agriculture and fisheries.  The results of the DIRERAF project were also presented to European institutions and organizations during a press conference that took place in Brussels, on January 23.