AHI awards anti-smoking campaigner, armed forces at annual dinner

Dr. Panagiotis Behrakis and the Hellenic Armed Forces were the honorees of the American-Hellenic Institute's (AHI) annual Hellenic Heritage Achievement and Public Service Awards Dinner.

The event held last month at Athens's Grande Bretagne hotel distinguished Behrakis -director of the Institute of Public Health of the American College of Greece and President of the Scientific Committee of European Network for Smoking and Tobacco Prevention, among others - for his "tireless efforts to combat tobacco usage in the youth of Greece."

"Smoking prevalence in Greece has declined and it is now very close to the European average," Behrakis said in his acceptance speech. "Consumption of tobacco has also decreased by 50 percent in the past decade and most importantly the Greek public has changed it attitude towards smoking."

The Hellenic Armed Forces, represented by...