The Greek club have enjoyed a successful partnership with UNICEF over the last three years, resulting in them helping immunise hundreds of thousands of babies in Chad.
Greek side Olympiacos have helped immunise over 1 million babies in Chad since 2013, UNICEF has revealed.
The partnership between the most successful side in Greek football history and the world’s leading organisation for children in over 190 countries started over three years ago and has since saved hundreds and thousands of children’s lives.
UNICEF’s ‘100% immunisation’ campaign targets countries where vaccination coverage is amongst the lowest in the world, like Chad, South Sudan and Angola.
“Olympiacos has been a valuable UNICEF partner since 2013 and the biggest sports donor for the 100% Campaign,” a UNICEF spokesperson told Goal.
“Thanks to the support of Olympiacos Football Club and other contributors, the UNICEF immunisation campaign has resulted in over 1 milion under one-year-olds in Chad being immunised against polio and other diseases – and in the purchase of 192 solar-powered vaccine refrigerators.
“In addition to the immunisations taking place in Chad, Olympiacos and UNICEF have also partnered in immunising children in Greece and specifically in areas which are facing great struggles due to the economic crisis. Such immunisations wil continue this season as well.”
One out of five children in the world is not fully vaccinated and those who are left behind usually live in remote areas with little access to healthcare. Children are not being vaccinated because they live in hard to reach communities, are marginalised by poverty or are inaccessible because of conflict.
The support of Olympiacos, whose charity work led by club president Evangelos Marinakis amounted to €1.6 million last season (from August to May) and recently included providing over 3,000 meals to refugees in Greece, was the most of any club in the country and shows their continued desire to help those in need at home and abroad in what continues to be an economic crisis.
