CHEERing is in the process of certifying our team as emergency responders. Today, ED Anne Merewood; Peer Counselor Farzana Hakimi, and volunteer extraordinaire Danni Scales completed their Greek-government recognized training (and had a lot of fun doing it!)

CHEERing is featured in a brand new publication from the Emergency Nutrition Network – Operational Guidance: Breastfeeding Counselling in Emergencies. The Guidance, commissioned by the WHO, provides practical and supportive information to organizations working with mothers and babies in emergency settings. CHEERing contributed a Case Study about a female refugee and her infant from the…

It’s been a while in the making, but CHEERing has renovated the clinic at Elna Maternity Center, where we see moms and babies every week to check in on breastfeeding, baby growth and nutrition. We’ve added new cabinets, sorted and catalogued all the medicines, trained families and peers in first aid and over-the-counter medicine use,…

As you can see in the photo, there’s a huge need for parents to get their babies weighed and measured at the camps, as many do not get regular pediatric care. CHEERing is collaborating with FoodKIND at Malakasa camp 40km north of Athens to provide this service every week. Knowing how much baby weighs, and…

Joanna Papadakis, currently a student at Cornell University in the USA, has won a 2021 Projects for Peace award to work with CHEERing in the summer of 2021. Her Project Eλευθερία (Project Freedom) will help CHEERing and their partners, the Elna Maternity Center, to renovate the CHEERing clinic at Elna, and will provide the basis…

CHEERing’s poster about our work in Greek refugee camps was named one of the top ten posters at the Medicins Sans Frontiers/Doctors Without Borders international conference in April 2021.

Using the expertise of our qualified pharmacist, ERASMUS student Rana Sabreen, CHEERing collaborated with Elna Maternity Center to count, list, and ultimately redistribute extra and close-to-expiry donated medications. Using the GivMed network, we have already given out medicines to MVI, and many Greek community centers in need.

CHEERing loves to collaborate with other NGOs. Here’s our ERASMUS student Marina donating a box of baby clothes to CRIBS International, which houses mothers and babies in Athens apartments.

Save the date for CHEERing/CHEER’s international conference on May 19, 2021. The keynote speaker is Rafael Perez-Escamilla, Director of Global Health at Yale University, and the conference will have an international track on Infant Feeding in Emergencies!