IVI and Mumbai Smiles united for children’s health

As part of our social commitment, childhood and health represent two of our fundamental pillars. For this reason we have signed a partnership agreement with the NGDO Mumbai Smiles (Sonrisas de Bombay) to support the Hope Project in paediatric oncology.

Through our support, children from the most impoverished communities of Mumbai will be able to receive cancer treatment at the Holy Spirit Hospital. They will also receive psychological treatment, academic support and take part in recreational activities to improve their social integration.

Hope that blossomed in 2010

The HOPE Project began in 2010 with the introduction of an oncology division at the Holy Spirit Hospital in Andheri, to the east of Mumbai. The beneficiaries are children from poor families. Apart from supporting medical treatments and services, HOPE offers recreational and educational activities for child patients and provides psychological support and family training to comprehensively treat the disease.

This project came about to reduce children’s mortality and it falls within the fourth Millennium Development Goal, the aim of which is to reduce child mortality by two thirds by 2015. “We believe in children, as they are our future and that’s why we have decided to support Mumbai Smiles as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility, thus playing our part in achieving one of the most important goals proposed by the UNO”.

Children, our hope and our biggest challenge

“We are not the sources of problems; we are the resources that are needed to solve them. We are not expenses; we are investments. We are not just young people; we are people and citizens of this world”, Message from the Forum on Children, from 5-7 May 2012, UN Special Session on Children.

At IVI we are committed to society by backing responsible practices that respond to major global challenges. As part of this undertaking, children represent one of the basic pillars governing IVI’s Social Action. The smile of a child is our smile and that is why we are driven to continue creating life. “For us, where there are children there is life and it is for them that we must build a better future”, concludes Luis Saurat, CEO of IVI.