Country Ambassadors

Nikolaos V. Sipsas, Associate Professor, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Email: On request
View the Fungal burden of disease in Greece: Gamaletsou 2016.
How you have helped GAFFI: Along with Dr. Maria Gamaletsou and Professor David Denning, we launched a study to estimate for the first time ever, the burden if severe fungal infections in Greece. The results of this laborious project have now been published Gamaletsou 2016. We also advocated for the GAFFI case in Greece. In October 2014, we helped disseminate the press release on GAFFI’s year-1 successes to the Hellenic press and to ministers and top officials of our
Country
Personal comment on the major needs in Greece which GAFFI should be addressing: In Greece there is a severe shortage of data on the epidemiology of fungal diseases in the general population and in specific high risk populations, such as immunocompromised patients. One major unmet need in Greece is to estimate the burden of severe fungal infection by using the existing scarce data and by initiating well designed prospective studies and by setting-up registries. We also need to raise awareness among the general public and health policy makers on the severity of fungal infections and how they affect the public health. Lobbying health authorities to improve access to diagnostics and treatments for fungal diseases, and development of training for personnel in laboratories and for physicians, are other priorities.
Links to key fungal/global health institutions in Greece: