Policy framework

Since 2001, Italy has participated in the HBSC multicentric study (Cf. paragraphs 7.1-7.4). The HBSC surveys promoted a continuity in the monitoring of health-related behaviours of school-age children.

With the State-Regions Conference of 18 December 2019, the agreement regarding the Health Pact for the years 2019-2021 was ratified, in which specific active policies for the promotion and protection of health are considered with particular attention to children and adolescents, to people with mental disorders, to support the autonomy of people with disabilities and non self-sufficient people.

Stakeholders

The protection of human health is developed, with the involvement of central and local institutions and civil society, in order to develop integrated policies that act effectively on the main determinants of health.

Among the main actors involved in the promotion of health and in the prevention of risky behaviours are:

• the health operators of the Prevention Departments of the Health Authorities that intervene in the world of schools;
• teachers who, thanks to the direct and continuous link with students, can collaborate effectively to foster the close link between education and health;
• students who have to learn the possibilities of choice in terms of health behaviours;
• parents as they play an important role in the educational area and in the maintenance or modification of health behaviours.
• Young people are also an active part in health promotion, since they participate in the process of transmitting information, advice and other types of help for the prevention of health risks, such as, for example, the abuse of alcohol and drugs and in the prevention of communicable diseases. 
• Primary doctors and pediatricians are fundamental for promoting the psycho-physical well-being of young people.

The Ministry of Health has set up programs with pediatricians from the Italian Society of Pediatrics (SIP) and the Italian Federation of Pediatric Doctors (FIMP) aimed at promoting healthy nutrition and correct lifestyles and promoting health education interventions, aimed at families and children/adolescents. The main objective is to develop synergies to transform good practices into consolidated interventions, networking different systems, skills and responsibilities.

Guidance to stakeholders

In January 2019, the State-Regions Conference approved the memorandum of understanding between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Merit “Integrated policy guidelines for schools that promote health”.

The protocol is aimed at encouraging the inclusion of “Health Promotion” in the educational curriculum of school students of all levels, not as a “new subject”, but as a continuous and integrated educational proposal along the entire school path. Every school will be able to develop in the manner deemed most suitable to address the real educational and training needs of individual students, constantly monitoring the entire educational process.

The document underlines how a health promoting school must adopt a global approach aimed at all students, their families, teaching and non-teaching staff, aimed at developing the individual skills of all members of the school community and improving their physical environment and social, opening up to the territory and strengthening collaboration with the local community.

Target groups

Smoking, harmful consumption of alcohol, improper diet and physical inactivity are health risk behaviours that often occur in childhood or adolescence.

Smoking is one of the main risk factors for the development of serious and often fatal diseases. ISTAT data indicate that in 2022 there are still many young people who declare themselves to be smokers, although down from the previous year (Cf. paragraph 7.1).

The consumption of alcohol by young people is also on the rise, in ways that are new and far from tradition, such as consumption between meals and in moderate quantities, drunkenness and binge drinking (Cf. paragraph 7.1).

Other risk factors for health, are unhealthy eating and a sedentary lifestyle, which are important modifiable risk factors for chronic diseases. 
Incorrect eating habits such as skipping breakfast, consuming little fruit and vegetables, overeating with sugary drinks are frequent among adolescents (Cf. paragraphs 7.1 e 7.4).

Funded projects

Among the national programs aimed at promoting the health and well-being of young people, there are: 

• Safer Internet Centre Connected Generations, co-financed by the European Commission under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) - Telecom program, which materializes in the “Better Internet for Kids” online platform managed by European Schoolnet.
  The Safer Internet Center (also known as SIC) was created to provide information, advice and support to children, teenagers, parents, teachers and educators who have Internet-related experiences, including problems, and to facilitate the reporting of illegal material online. The general objective is to develop services with innovative and higher quality content, in order to guarantee young users’ safety “in the environment” online, while considering, at the same time, the connected investment as a “virtuous” opportunity to a social and economic growth of the entire community;
• The national project “Gaining health in adolescents” Recognition of projects and interventions for the prevention and promotion of health in adolescents in the Italian regions (Cf. paragraph 7.4.), promoted and financed by the Ministry of Health (Centre for Disease Control - CCM) which aims to carry out a survey of all the prevention and promotion initiatives of health aimed at adolescents-young people (11-30 years), conducted in the Italian Regions from 2003 to today, in the following thematic areas:
• eating habits;
• physical activity;
• sexually transmitted infection
• consumption of drugs and alcohol
• mental health
• road accidents.

Starting in November 2022, the "Health is built from childhood"(La Salute si costruisce da piccoli) campaign was launched on the social accounts of "Guadagnare Salute" and the ISS, and aims to promote healthy lifestyles in children and their families, through indications on nutrition and physical activity. The campaign is promoted by the National Center for Prevention and Health Promotion (CNAPPS) of the ISS, by the Maternal and Nursery IRCCS Burlo Garofolo of Trieste and it  is financed by the Ministry of Health/National Center for Disease Prevention and Control ( CCM).