Ancona, 7 July 2017 – “Stop Child Abuse” is the training and education project launched and supported by Menarini in collaboration with the Italian Paediatrics Society (SIP) and the Italian Federation of Paediatricians (FIMP) which arrived in Ancona today.

This project, the first in the world on this scale, aims to create an anti-abuse network to protect children who are victims of abuse and violence.

Paediatricians and doctors in Le Marche have received specialised training on the clinical and legal tools to recognise the signs of child abuse and to take action. Each year, many cases of violence and abuse remain in the dark. Minors are at risk of neglect, ill-treatment and psychological and physical violence. Annually, statistics indicate that around 70–80 thousand children and adolescents are victims of these painful experiences. In 70% of cases, violence and physical, psychological and sexual abuse occurs at home, and in two out of every three cases a parent is involved.

Menarini has decided to focus on the creation of a national anti-abuse network with training events for GPs carried out in collaboration with the Italian Society of Paediatrics (SIP) and the Italian Federation of Paediatricians (FIMP). Menarini has invested a total of € 1 million in the project.

Dr Domenico Cipolla, SIP regional secretary for Sicily stated the following: “Cases of abuse and violence on minors are often underestimated as health centres and schools do not always report suspected cases appropriately. The aim of this project is to create a network of paediatricians and doctors who are informed about the issues involved, allowing raised awareness of the phenomenon, prevention and action against child abuse.”

Paola Miglioranzi, head of the “Stop Child Abuse” project for FIMP, had the following to say: The efforts of family paediatricians is focused through these courses on revealing silent cases of abuse, and on the importance of collaboration with the competent authorities for the identification of the case, diagnosis and protection of the child going forward. This is a wide-reaching effort on our part, and that doesn’t scare us, but gives a logic to our daily efforts to support the healthy growth of our little patients.”

During 2017, many other GPs will participate in the courses planned in another 14 Italian cities. The initiative will help to generate awareness about these issues: the paediatricians and GPs who follow the courses will become a reference point for their colleagues throughout the country, able to give advice and help in managing cases of suspected abuse and ill-treatment. All this will help to bring to light an increasing number of victims and increase the number of cases being reported.

“Menarini has developed this project with local courses across all the regions of Italy in order to spread medical training on these themes in a comprehensive manner, because unfortunately these sad stories we see in the news regard the entire country” – commented Alberto Giovanni and Lucia Aleotti, Vice Chairperson and Chairperson of the Menarini Group – “In this respect, the project is unique and makes Italy an example for all the other countries around the world. We strongly believe in the social value of this network of medical “look-outs”. Raising the awareness of GPs around these issues will help to safeguard children. This represents our contribution to drastically reducing the number of painful stories that nobody wants to read in the newspapers”.