OREANDA-NEWS. A competition among kindergartens and schools for projects to improve child protection efforts in Gubkin was announced. The competition is part of Metalloinvest's Healthy Child social programme, aiming to reduce illness among children of kindergarten and school age. This year, Metalloinvest plans to spend one million roubles on implementing the winning projects.

The fund for grants is 150% larger than last year. According to organisers, this not only leads to an increase in the number of participants but also the quality of the projects. The results of the competition will be announced in September.

During the meeting regarding the competition, the programme participants noted that all participating kindergartens have demonstrated improvements in children's wellbeing. Illnesses have decreased and medical workers believe that this is due to the implementation of the Healthy Child programme.

Julia Mazanova, Director of Social Policy and Corporate Communications of Management Company METALLOINVEST said: “Taking care of the wellbeing of our employees, their family members and particularly the children living in towns where the Company has operations has always been a priority for Metalloinvest. International experience shows that direct financial investment alone cannot lead to the desired outcome. Child illness statistics will not improve without a more thorough and serious approach by combining the efforts of parents, experts and all institutions specialising in children's healthcare. Healthy Child specifically targets this. The recently-initiated programme has already gained an excellent reputation and has been developing successfully. We have observed a fall in the number of illnesses among children. That is the main result of our efforts.”