Lanzarote pharmacies will give away masks to spread the campaign against gender violence

The Canary Islands Institute of Equality intends for the new resource Mask-19, for women who suffer abuse, to be known in the non-capital islands

July 14 2020 (20:13 WEST)
Presentation of the new Mascarilla-19 campaign in a pharmacy in Lanzarote
Presentation of the new Mascarilla-19 campaign in a pharmacy in Lanzarote

More than one hundred pharmacies in the non-capital islands will distribute 5,000 FFP2 surgical masks, screen-printed with the campaign of the Canary Islands Institute of Equality Mask-19, which is the resource promoted by the ICI during confinement to facilitate women who were being attacked or threatened in their home or on the street, could ask for help in pharmacies. “Our objective is to reinforce this new resource, that it ceases to be a campaign and becomes another resource that can reach all corners of the Canary Islands”, explained the director of the ICI, Kika Fumero, who this Tuesday presented this new initiative in Lanzarote.

The event held in a pharmacy on the island was also attended by the president of the Official College of Pharmacists of Las Palmas, Juan Ramón Santana Ayala, and the owner of the pharmacy and member of Lanzarote, Víctor Dávila.

Since its implementation in pharmacies on March 16 and to date, 25 women who were being attacked or felt threatened have asked for help in different pharmacies in Gran Canaria and Tenerife. However, to date none has done so in Lanzarote, where the Institute now intends to publicize this new resource.

The campaign will take place in 48 pharmacies in Lanzarote, through the delivery of 1,845 masks with the image of the campaign screen-printed. “The idea is that both the pharmacies and the people who receive the mask contribute to the dissemination of this message, taking a photo with it on and posting it on their social networks and tagging with the hashtag #Mask19”, explain from the Canary Islands Institute of Equality.

 

365 emergency calls in Lanzarote until June

Between the months of January to June of this year, the service of Attention to Women Victims of Violence of 1-1-2 received 572 calls from women from Lanzarote, of which 365 were emergency, that is, they manifested an imminent danger to the life of the woman. Of the remaining calls, 77 were for information and 130 for urgency (subjective situation that requires attention and that can be prioritized). Of the total calls received on the island, 270 referred to physical violence and 267 non-physical.

The distribution of the masks will be carried out through the Canarian Pharmaceutical Cooperative, and 41 masks will be allocated among the clientele of each pharmacy, in order for the information on the alert protocol against gender violence Mask-19 to reach each neighborhood of each island. Information will be offered upon delivery of the masks in order to expand and make conscious use of the social and support work.

The person who receives the mask can collaborate by taking a photo with the mask and uploading it to their social networks tagging with the hashtag #Mask19. For its part, the pharmacy that wants to collaborate can take a photo in the pharmacy itself together with the person to whom the mask is delivered (with it on) and upload the photo to their networks with the hashtag #Mask19. Pharmacies that attend to this initiative will receive a diploma of collaboration in the Mask19 Campaign from the Canary Islands Institute of Equality, as well as dissemination through their social networks.

As for the people who can request these free masks to disseminate this project, the only requirement is that they agree to share their photo on social networks. In the case of older people who do not have their own accounts, they can take a photo and post it on the pharmacy's social networks.

 

A campaign that has spread to Spain and other countries

The Mask-19 Campaign was activated in the Canary Islands at the beginning of the confinement due to Covid-19. The action consists of making available to women from all corners of the archipelago the possibility of raising the alarm in their trusted pharmacy or in the one that is closest if they are in a situation of risk due to gender violence, in a situation of danger to their physical integrity or due to sexual assault, or people close to them who are aware of a fact of these characteristics, may approach the pharmacy and request a Mask -19. With this “key word”, the pharmaceutical staff, once this product has been requested, will make a call for gender violence to the emergency telephone 112.

In order for this call to 112 to be effective, the woman's personal data will be given. To do this, at the time of requesting the Mask -19, she will be asked, with the greatest possible discretion, her name, address and telephone number, or she will be provided with paper and pen so that she can write it herself.

Currently and according to data provided by the General Council of Pharmacists, there are already more than 16,000 pharmacies that have joined this campaign and 770 pharmacies attached in the islands. In addition to Spain, other countries such as Italy, France, Germany, Norway, United Kingdom, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Uganda, Cape Verde and Australia have contacted the ICI to be able to use this aid protocol.

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