Gaining health : analysis of policy development in European ...

Despite these developments, “Greece still lacks a whole
school approach and implements pilot projects that are not
integrated into the ... school curriculum” (36). There is very
little continuity, with only a few educators and small groups
of students participating in the programmes for short
periods of time. For example, although a school smoking
prevention policy was introduced in 1997, a study of three
randomly chosen public lyceums in Athens in 2004 showed
that more than 80% of the students had seen at least one
classmate smoking in the previous two weeks, and fewer
than 10% of the regularly smoking pupils could recall having
attended a school class on the hazards of smoking (36).
The intended intersectoral action has not developed, apart
from certain exceptions around the area of Patras (where
there is long-standing collaboration between a number of
municipalities and local NGOs to promote training programmes
for teachers, parents and volunteers) and in certain
other places in, for example, Attiki, Larissa, Crete and
Salonica. The Ministry of National Education and Religious
Affairs maintains a list of agencies and institutions allowed
access to schools, and NGOs dealing with NCD-related
issues may have considerable difficulty in collaborating with
schools if they are not on this list.
As the role of the Ministry of National Education and Religious
Affairs has grown, there appears to be diminishing interest
in working with the MHSS. Schools are not generally
linked to the expertise and resources of local health centres
or hospitals, or this takes the form of the classic health
examination, except where interested individuals bring a
health promotion approach. A certain rivalry may perhaps
be discerned from the parallel development of a network
of prevention centres by the MHSS and a network of youth
counselling centres by the Ministry of Education.
From international experience, the school has proven to
be an effective setting for health promotion. A clear policy
and strategy at the national level for tackling NCD could
indicate the role of the school setting.
2.7.3. The workplace
The Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (KYAE), established
in 1978, is a directorate of the Ministry of Employment
and Social Protection. Its main focus relates to health
risks at the workplace, but since 1996 it has also been the
national focal point for the European Network for Workplace
Health Promotion (ENWHP).
In the context of this network, the Ministry finances the
Hellenic Workplace Health Promotion Forum and secretariat.
A number of mainly large and middle-level firms are
members of this network and their health promotional
activities range from the more general (such as facilitating
the balancing of family and working hours, ensuring workers’
participation in decision-making, providing healthy food
in workplace canteens, and provisions for physical activity)
to the more medically oriented such as preventive health
checks. The participating firms exchange experiences of
good practice through the network web site, and indicate
that their activities have not only been good for health but
have had economic benefits such as a reduction in absenteeism.
An NGO known as the National Network for Health Promotion
in the Workplace has recently been established. It
has a number of large companies among its members and is
also linked to the ENWHP.
2.7.4. Health promoting hospitals
Greece has been a member of the WHO health promoting
hospitals network since 1998. There are now 22 member
hospitals, 18 of which are in the greater Athens area. In
relation to NCD control, the network is part of the smokefree
hospitals movement.
Chapter 4
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Case studies: policy development in countries for tackling noncommunicable diseases