MILAN (ITALPRESS) – On the occasion of Purpose Day 2024, the annual event of Opella, Sanofi’s Consumer Healthcare Business Unit, which is an important opportunity to put the company’s social commitment into practice through a volunteer activity that also involves employees, the communication campaign supporting the “Viva la Pancia” initiative is starting. This has been launched by Enterogermina Nutritional Supplements, a brand dedicated to intestinal wellness, and Save the Children, the international organization that has been fighting for more than 100 years to save at-risk boys and girls and ensure their future.Educating children and families living in difficult contexts on how to lead a healthy lifestyle, starting with proper nutrition and consistent hygiene practices, is the goal of “Viva la Pancia,” a project launched at the end of 2023 and which since September 24 has been the subject of a digital communication campaign on major networks that will continue for 4 weeks. The campaign will have the support of 2 exceptional ambassadors: Chiara Maci and I Soldi Spicci, who will tell about the initiative on their channels.The project is developed over 10 days during which educational entertainment activities are organized aimed at teaching girls and boys the importance of hygiene and nutrition to keep the gut healthy. The recreational activities take place within Save the Children’s 10 Points of Light, high-density educational spaces that arise in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods and suburbs of Italian cities, to offer free training and educational opportunities to children and young people between the ages of 6 and 17.The 10 Points of Light involved in the initiative are: Milan Giambellino and Milan Quarto Oggiaro, Ancona, Naples Chiaiano, Palermo ZEN and ZISA, Casal di Principe, Platì, Scalea and San Luca.Articulated into 10 workshops at each Point of Light, for a total of 100 appointments, to be held over the course of 2024, with a frequency of about one session per month, the “Viva la Pancia” project was organized to explore important topics related mainly to health and well-being and, after almost 1 year, has enabled the project to reach and train about 1,600 minors.Each lesson consists of 2 parts: in the first, thanks to the support of the “Arte Bambini” association, a MIUR-accredited publishing house with more than 30 years of experience in the field of education, and through some stories told with the traditional Japanese narrative technique of Kamishi Bai – which allows children to listen to the stories by looking only at illustrated tables facilitating their understanding -, children will be able to discover the difference between “good” and “bad” bacteria while learning the basic rules of personal hygiene and healthy eating.In the second part, a workshop is planned, curated by Science Fun, in which children will experiment by playing with what they have just learned.The initiative coincides with the launch of Opella Italia’s Purpose Day 2024, which involves almost all employees, representing a day of social engagement to generate positive impact by supporting communities. The materials produced during the Purpose Day-including memory cards and posters-will then be used and distributed at Save the Children’s project sites in Italy and will be the tool with which educators will raise awareness among minors, adolescents and adults about the proper practices of personal hygiene and hygiene in their families.In addition, all employees can devote, during the course of the year, an additional day of work to social volunteering, actively participating in the activities planned at the Points of Light, working alongside Save the Children educators in carrying out the educational activity “Viva la Pancia”.In addition to “Viva la Pancia,” Enterogermina Integratori Alimentari and Save the Children have made available to disadvantaged neighborhoods, two Mobile Socio-health Units that will operate in the areas surrounding the Points of Light in Ostia and Palermo. These will offer various services such as psycho-social and pediatric counseling, dissemination of good hygiene and nutrition practices expressly dedicated to children. The first mobile social-health unit is active in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Palermo. It is a real pediatrician’s office on wheels, with the aim of providing free examinations and guaranteeing children direct access to the medical care they need.These projects are part of the sustainability commitment of Opella Italia, a Benefit Company since 2023 and a B Corp certified company since January this year. “Enterogermina Integratori Alimentari and Save the Children share an important goal, which is to protect children, take care of them and guarantee them a better future.Because, when we take care of a child, we take care of our own future. The ‘Viva la Pancià initiative is a concrete demonstration of this will, because we put our experience and support at the service of children living in difficult, vulnerable contexts,” explained Raka Sinha, General Manager of Opella Healthcare Italy. “In Italy, more than 1,300,000 children live below the poverty line. Opella italia is a Benefit Society and works hard to support communities, especially those where help is most needed. To do so, it works side by side with realities of great social impact such as Save the Children, whose valuable contribution is essential for projects such as ‘Viva la Pancià to become a reality. This is a valuable partnership that makes tangible our commitment as a company that promotes and supports the well-being of people. “According to data from the “Tomorrows (Im)possible” research, conducted by Save the Children and presented at the opening of “IMPOSSIBLE 2024,” the organization’s biennial event on children’s and adolescents’ rights, nearly one in ten adolescents in Italy (9.4 percent) between the ages of 15 and 16 live in conditions of severe material deprivation. 17.9 percent say their parents have difficulty in meeting expenses for food, clothing and bills.Obviously, the condition of economic poverty also weighs heavily on adolescents’ life expectations and their vision of the future, often conditioning their choices.For more information on the “Viva la Pancia” project, you can visit the dedicated web page https://www.enterogermina.com/it-it/i-nostri-valori/la-nostra-missione
– photo press office Havas PR -(ITALPRESS).
