During these two years, we worked tirelessly with the goal of fulfilling our challenging mission. The Board of Directors met regularly in a hall of the Second Primary School of Makedonitissa, which was made available for this purpose by the school’s principal.

Our Board consisted of the following members:

Board of Directors

• Stelios Stylianou – President
• Iosif Katsioloudis – Vice President
• Yiangos Yiangou – Secretary
• Giorgos Physentzou – Treasurer
• Stelios Avraam – Assistant Treasurer
• Mariliz Hadjigeorgiou – Press Officer
• Yiannoula Strati – Organizing Secretary
• Yiannis Antoniades – Member
• Neofytos Leventis – Member
• Theodosis Theodosiou – Member & Website Administrator

A brief overview of the Association’s activities and actions follows:

Events

• In January 2008, a social gathering and traditional New Year’s cake-cutting event was held at the restaurant “Loukoulos” with the aim of strengthening relationships among Association members.
• In October 2008, in collaboration with the Cyprus Gastroenterology Society, we organized conferences featuring British Paediatric Gastroenterologist Dr. Rob Heuschkel as the keynote speaker. One conference was intended for adult gastroenterologists, while the second was aimed at parents of children suffering from Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. Attendance at both conferences was very high and helped, to some extent, address the gap created by the lack of paediatric gastroenterologists.
• Communication with members and patients.
• Participation of our Secretary, Mr. Yiangos Yiangou, in the morning television programme “Seven to Ten”, together with Dr. Michalis Tryfonos, to raise awareness about the challenges faced by patients, particularly children.
• Radio interview given by our Association’s Secretary on the Third Programme of the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), promoting the conference featuring Dr. Rob Heuschkel.
• Publication of an article by Association member Mr. Theodosis Theodosiou on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in childhood.
• Regular updates and maintenance of our website by Mr. Theodosis Theodosiou.
• Conversion of our So-easy mobile connection into a permanent telephone service with the number 70008084 to improve communication with our members.

Funding

• During the previous two years, we received financial support from OPAP Cyprus amounting to €1,700 per year.
• We received financial assistance from the Ministry of Health amounting to €3,000.
• We received donations totaling €520 in memory of the aunt of our Association’s President.