Slovak Non-Smoking Promotion Center Opens

AIHA's Executive Director Jim Smith, Dr. Katarina Krizanova, health advisor at USAID-Bratislava, Dr. Danica Sevcovicova, director of the State Health Institute, and City of Martin Mayor Ing. Stanislav Bernat cut the ribbon to mark the official opeing of the Non-Smoking Promotion Center in Martin, Slovakia.

On April 26, AIHA's Executive Director Jim Smith, the Mayor of the City of Martin Ing. Stanislav Bernat, and Dr. Katarina Krizanova, health advisor at USAID-Bratislava, provided the keynote addresses at a ceremony marking the opening of a Non-Smoking Promotion Center in Martin, Slovakia. Dr. Elena Kavcova, partnership coordinator for the Municipal Non-Smoking Promotion and Smoking Prevention Project in Martin, and Dr. Danica Sevcovicova, director of the State Health Institute, presided over the ceremony. The Center is located at the State Health Institute, which donated the space for the project. The opening included a signing of a Memorandum of Understanding and a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The establishment of the Non-Smoking Promotion Center is the culmination of a Community Health Partnership initiative between Faculty Hospital and Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin and MetroHealth System of Cleveland, Ohio. The Center will serve as a coordination point for local training activities, advocacy planning for national legislative reforms, development of smoking prevention campaigns for children and youth, and regional counseling services for smoking cessation.

The Community Health Partnership and the Non-Smoking Promotion Center are funded by USAID under a Cooperative Agreement with AIHA, which provided the equipment and training materials for the initial start-up of the Center's programs. Partnership representatives in Martin are also collaborating with the World Health Organization (WHO) on global strategies in smoking prevention and cessation.

A display panel set up at Martin's Non-Smoking Promotion Center.

Over fifty guests attended the ceremony and reception, including partnership representatives from Martin, representatives of AIHA's Healthy Communities Partnership in Turcianske Teplice, including Mayor Josef Turcany and former Mayor Dr. Alena Chlapikova, Peace Corps representatives from Martin and Bratislava.

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